An Upper Sixth forum carousel runs every Wednesday afternoon for five weeks to help prepare leavers for university life. Subjects include finance, first aid and cookery. Louisa Y (Upper Sixth) reports on this week’s cookery demonstration by John Devine, Catering Manager, below.

“Today my peers and I experienced the ease and speed of cooking for ourselves as we prepare to live out our independent lives beyond SVS. Not only were we able to see how simple cooking can be, but also the benefits of eating healthy homecooked food. The task of cooking for ourselves is no longer daunting as we were taught how to cook simple meals with minimal ingredients, such as stir-fry, chicken curry, pasta carbonara and sticky chilli salmon. All of the food was truly delicious, and we now feel competent enough to prepare and cook healthy recipes.

Furthermore, we were informed of the various measures of hygiene and food safety we must consider when cooking. This included how long to store meat until it turns bad and the correct temperature at which meat should be cooked to prevent food poisoning. This was incredibly helpful as we know the various measures which should be taken when preparing raw food in the kitchen. The recipes varied and could be easily adapted to personal tastes and preferences.

Through live demonstrations, we have a basic idea of how to make some of these meals. To witness the ease of cooking was incredibly informative as now we have the correct skills and knowledge to create healthy food once leaving Sutton Valence School. We engaged in useful conversations which gave us further insight into our first taste of independent life and are equipped with the tools which may be simple to some, but very beneficial to others.