Children's Food Trust wants to inspire healthy eating.
A charity is urging families in Scotland to reclaim mealtimes together - by pledging to join its annual event to get the nation cooking.
The Children’s Food Trust, which is on a mission to get children eating well, is challenging families, friends, schools and organisations across the country to take part in its largest mass cooking event to date, the Big Cookathon 2016 on 22-25 April.
The annual event, now in its eighth year, aims to get families cooking nutritious, easy recipes from scratch instead of opting for unhealthy and expensive ready meals or takeaways.
This year’s event, sponsored by The Tesco Eat Happy Project, challenges families to try making Big Cookathon cottage pie.
Learning to cook is an essential life skill and when children eat better, they do better
Children’s Food Trust chief executive Linda Cregan said: “This year’s recipe takes its inspiration from a time when meals were eaten by families around a table at home, without the distraction of mobile phones and computer games. The Big Cookathon is one way to get back a bit of that precious family time.
“We want to show the nation how easy it is to cook and how much fun they can have in the kitchen. Learning to cook is an essential life skill and when children eat better, they do better.”
Since 2007, the Children’s Food Trust has helped more than 3 million people throughout the UK learn to cook through their Let’s Get Cooking network.
Chef Shirley Spear, founder of the Michelin-starred Three Chimneys restaurant on Skye and chair of the Scottish Food Commission, said: “Cooking from scratch is healthier and will save you money, but best of all, your children will see just how much fun it can be to make and share a meal with the people you love. This is a win-win for kids: by watching you cook, they’ll want to cook.
“Eating together at least once every week, you’ll make the most of the time you get together as a family. We want 2016 to be the year when families reclaim mealtimes. Give it a go.”
To get involved visit the Big Cookathon website.
