For those that don’t know me, I’m Andy and I started the Community Cook Project to bring people together through food. I have a Caribbean background, my mum was from Jamaica and my dad was from Barbados, and growing up some of my best memories are around mum and dad cooking and us all eating together, whether that was at our home in Wolverhampton or on a day out somewhere.

When I was teenager I decided I wanted to be a chef and did some training, but found that I didn’t actually want to work in a kitchen. I enjoyed cooking but not in a restaurant or more realistically at the time a pub environment. Now 30 odd years and daily meals cooked later I’ve found my way back to cooking and I’m teaching what I’ve learned over the decades.

I set up The Community Cook Project while my family and I were travelling in SE Asia, with the aim to use food to bring people together in the Worldschool environment we were in. Firstly to teach kids cooking and kitchen skills — teamwork, creativity, healthy eating, patience — real life lessons that they can take with them long after the meal is finished, and secondly to create an event where a meal the kids help cook can be shared, create conversations and stories.

Long term I’d like to work with housing associations and local authorities to support people — especially those on lower incomes — to feel confident cooking simple, nutritious meals at home. Growing up, we weren’t well off either. Money was often tight, but food always brought us together as a family. My parents showed us that you don’t need expensive ingredients, fancy equipment or ready‑made meals to eat well. With a bit of knowledge, you can turn very basic ingredients into something tasty, filling and nourishing.