By CASEY NEILL
GREATER Dandenong families are cooking a path to better health – thanks to Jamie Oliver.
The Journal joined in a Jamie’s Ministry of Food class last month while the Mobile Kitchen was in Palm Plaza, Dandenong.
Food trainer Emma Hannah led about eight rookie cooks through a recipe for griddled steak with mushroom sauce and sides of lemony green beans and potatoes.
“Does anyone know which herb this is?” she asked, holding up a sprig.
The class didn’t correctly identify the thyme but were soon adding it to their mushroom sauce with confidence.
“Many are trying things they’ve never eaten before,” Ms Hannah said.
Participants practised the knife skills they’d learnt in previous classes by finely dicing onions, slicing mushrooms and chopping herbs.
Ms Hannah explained that meat cooked more evenly when it was at room temperature and that resting the meat kept the juices inside.
Her top tip was rubbing the top of the meat with a garlic clove while it cooked.
“It makes the meat taste great,” she said.
Budding cooks told the Journal they’d learnt a lot in just a few weeks and many had already tried out their new skills at home.
One had whipped up a salsa, putting his own twist on Jamie’s recipe, while others were already planning to recreate their mushroom sauce.
The Mobile Kitchen program inspires and empowers people to change the way their families eat and how they think about food.
A new Deakin University and University of Melbourne study showed people who completed the 10-week course increased their vegetable consumption by more than half a serve a day.
They also increased their cooking confidence and spent less on takeaway foods and sustained this six months after completing the course.
Not-for-profit organisation The Good Foundation partnered with Jamie Oliver and The Good Guys to deliver Jamie’s Ministry of Food throughout Australia.
Greater Dandenong was the eighth destination.
