Open Kitchen inspires St Luke's pupils

Pupils at St Luke's CE Primary School in Glossop have been learning valuable life skills in the kitchen thanks to a visit from award-winning social enterprise Open Kitchen.

The organisation, which is led by Glossop-based directors David Amesbury and James Bouchier, visited the school on Monday 15th June to deliver a series of practical cookery sessions designed to help children understand food, nutrition and healthy eating.

During the workshops, pupils explored a variety of ingredients, learned basic knife skills, discussed food safety and nutrition, and created their own fresh summer rolls under the guidance of professional chefs.

Headteacher Jakki Rogers said the sessions had been a huge success: "The children have loved working with James from Open Kitchen this week. They have been learning about and creating healthy alternatives to some of the food they usually reach for. It has been an eye-opening and mouth-watering experience for them all. A huge thank you to the Open Kitchen team for spending so much time with us."

The visit forms part of Open Kitchen's Food Education Programme, which aims to teach children practical cooking skills while improving their understanding of healthy eating and where food comes from.

The social enterprise has announced it is on track to reach 2,340 children through 156 cookery classes this year. So far, it has already worked with more than 1,140 pupils across Greater Manchester, Tameside and Lancashire.

Executive Chef and Director James Bouchier believes cooking should be viewed as an essential life skill:

"We're not trying to influence chefs of the future" he said. "We simply believe these are basic skills that every child should learn - just like Maths or English.

"We ultimately aim to reach as many primary school pupils in the region as possible to ensure current and future generations understand where their food comes from and what they can do with fresh ingredients.

"Open Kitchen is committed to building a world where sustainable food systems and resourcefulness are the norm. We believe education is an important part of this shift."

Open Kitchen operates as a not-for-profit social enterprise, intercepting perfectly edible food from supermarkets and restaurants that would otherwise go to waste and repurposing it into professional catering for meetings and events for corporate and public sector clients.

Good-quality surplus food that is not used in the catering operation is distributed through community partnerships, helping provide grocery parcels and supplies to local people facing food insecurity.

Unlike traditional catering businesses, all profits are reinvested into the local community, funding hands-on cooking workshops for children as well as practical food education sessions in community centres across the region.

In 2025, Open Kitchen launched ‘Menu for Change’ to further expand its impact. The fundraising initiative allows organisations to round up their catering bill, add a virtual course for good, encourage attendee donations, or make direct contributions to support food security projects across Greater Manchester and the North West.

Alongside its education programmes, Menu for Change helps fund community growing projects, enabling people to grow fresh local produce and build long-term food security. It also supports the purchase of healthy, sustainable and culturally appropriate food for community groups, including local food pantries.

In April this year, Open Kitchen's work was recognised when it was named Small Social Enterprise of the Year at the Social Enterprise Lancashire Network (SELNET) Awards in recognition of its social and environmental impact.

Chief Executive Officer David Amesbury said every catering order helps fund educational opportunities for local children:

"Every catering and workshop order placed with Open Kitchen directly funds the Food Education Programme, empowering young people with the confidence and skills to create a more resilient, waste-free food future" he said.

"It's incredible to see how enthusiastic the children are about getting hands-on in the kitchen, and it's something the team really enjoy being part of as well.

"We have recruited chefs from fine-dining backgrounds who are delivering high-end corporate catering and working with fresh, quality ingredients whilst making a positive difference to local people."

For more information about Open Kitchen visit: www.openkitchenmcr.co.uk