Spotlight - The Community Kitchen

Home cooking is an essential part of maintaining a healthy body and mind. And eating that food together creates community, support and reduces isolation. So what happens if you don't have the means to educate yourself on how to cook or you don't have a community to hand to dine with? 

Enter Brighton's newest and very welcome food venue The Community Kitchen. The Community Kitchen is bought to you by the people at the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership - a non profit organisation that has been beavering away on amazing community food projects in the city for over 10 years. They have been teaching people food skills - such as cooking on a budget or cooking for dementia - for many years but often struggled to find a space that ticked all the boxes for the needs of community cooking classes. They had a dream to create a space that would become a hub of food education and creativity and got to work on making it a reality. Crowd funding began followed by generous donations from companies and individuals throughout the city. Fitters began work on the 16th March and the doors opened last week which is no mean feat! 

The idea of the Community Kitchen is providing a place to learn, to meet, to be and to increase all round well-being. There will be cookery classes from some well known names in the Brighton food scene and anyone who pays to attend a course at the Community Kitchen essentially funds the Partnerships community programmes for vulnerable adults and children in the city. The venue is also available for hire - some ideas are small gatherings, recipe development, supper clubs, filming, photo shoots and workshops.

I was lucky enough to be at one of the first classes to happen in the space - a hand rolled pasta making workshop with Jamie Halsall of Cin Cin. The space works so well for a workshop like this with multiple stations and all the right tools needed for each person.

Jamie covered vegan and gluten free pasta and was an inspiring and humorous teacher. Everyone mucked in together and there's something about a group of people chucking on an apron that creates bonding, laughter and sharing of stories. 

I was so inspired by the space and can see so many happy times ahead there. Check out the roster of events coming up and get involved - you're not only inspiring yourself but also helping inspire other people in your community enjoy looking after their wellbeing. What could be better than that? 

Visit the Community Kitchen website for more details, including how to hire to the space.