VfL Roving Chef for Scotland, Claire delivered a series of taster sessions across the north west of Glasgow, which demonstrated how to make the best of common food bank and pantry ingredients, such as canned chickpeas, rice, and pasta. These simple ingredients can be combined with fresh seasonal produce to make nutritious, budget friendly meals.
They were particularly important as some communities in the city are among the most deprived in Scotland.
These taster sessions acted as an informal community consultation, which allowed VfL to shape course content, and to gain an insight into the barriers people face with cooking and eating a healthy, plant-based diet.
VfL developed the four-week “Pennies In Your Pocket For The Planet” course, which consisted of healthy, plant-based cookery workshops that promote improved health, sustainability, economy and nutrition. VfL delivered the course from the end of 2024 to the beginning of 2025, finishing with an extra class in April to celebrate the success of the course and the end of Ramadan.
Claire says she shaped the course to accommodate the area's changing demographic, and its content incorporates flavours from around the world. “This area is becoming increasingly ethnically diverse,” she says. “More than 23% of new residents in recent years come from minority ethnic groups.”
The course offered participants:
- The opportunity to ask any questions they have about veg*n diets.
- A clear understanding of the importance of dietary choices made by a veg*n they may care for.
- Confidence to prepare a range of veg*n dishes.
- Ability to plan veg*n menus with meals that are healthy, balanced and economical.
- A clearer understanding of what constitutes a balanced diet.
- Access to a range of resources to support their continued development.
To develop the course, VfL received £500 from the Bentley Trust Fund. This charity's small grants programme supports charities and community groups across the UK to help vulnerable, disadvantaged, or under-represented communities. Findlay Church provided the venue for the cooking classes.
Claire says: “The taster sessions revealed that the group wanted to save time as well as money. Our batch cooking recipes for spaghetti bolognese and chilli non-carne are perfect for using across multiple dishes including lasagne, tacos and nachos.” Participants also said they wanted to learn to bake. “The muffins and flapjacks were a firm favourite with the group,” adds Claire.
Participants were given access to VfL publications and recipes to support their learning, such as One-Pot Meals and Vegan Baking.
Feedback was collated at the end of the course. Some of the comments received were:
“I enjoyed cooking with others, getting out the house and loved vegan baking,” Rakhshanda Abid.
“I liked learning healthy bakery, I really liked the tutor,” Yasmin Ahmed
“I liked the variety in recipes and tutor explained everything so clearly,” Mair McDondald
“I've really enjoyed the course, Claire is a great tutor making the class fun and interesting. I have loved trying new vegan recipes,” Kala Devi.
