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CFHS Blog

Cooking skills blog: Cooking skills research – Reasons to be cheerful, part one

Earlier this year, around 50 people, many who run or manage cooking skills activities came together to hear evidence about the impact of community cooking activities. They heard from Professor Martin Caraher (City, University of London) and Dr Ada Garcia (University of Glasgow). Lyndsay Clark (Fife Health & Social Care Partnership) and I discussed the …

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Guest blog: Sue O’Neill-Berest from Cyrenians on food insecurity, cooking and using CFHS development funding to run sessions for young mums

Something to eat, someone to eat with The Food and Agricultural organisation of the United Nations has suggested that 8.4 million live in food insecure households in the UK. (Taylor, 2016) Some research conducted predominantly out with the UK found no significant positive link between the ability to cook and food security, whilst other studies …

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CFHS blog – How can you support people with learning disabilities to eat better?

Finding good resources suitable to help people with learning disabilities to eat well can be a real challenge. The healthy eating, healthy living training pack is a unique tried-and-tested resource that provides thorough information on how to promote healthy eating messages in an interactive, simple and fun way for people with a range of learning …

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Guest blog – community-led research generates more than research knowledge

Our guest blog is from Lesley Greenaway, a free-lance evaluator and consultant. She has a PhD in Participative Evaluation, and is committed to building capacity for research and evaluation. What is distinct about community-led research is that it includes community members as active participants in the whole research process. This means finding ways to share decision-making in …

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New blog post – Pasta with a past: the collective memory and collective consciousness of Scotland’s community food initiatives

A government policy document a few years ago noted that, “Scotland has both a remarkable legacy as well as an admirable current resource in its social enterprises, community and voluntary sector.” Why? No-one likes to reinvent the wheel, be told by another project after hitting a snag that they could have told them where the …

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Our latest blog: Social media. What is it good for?

Here at CFHS we like to reach out to you in different ways. We have a hard copy newsletter for those of you who like to share or read on the train. Our e-bulletin suits those who like the convenience of news delivered straight to their inbox. Our website holds a wealth of information for …

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CFHS blog – from the reading pile …

Part of our role is to share evidence, learning and knowledge, so a few of my reflections on a little something from my reading pile. This week I read a briefing paper published by Glasgow Centre for Population Health, setting out principles for effective social regeneration and interventions.  It is based on the work of …

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Cooking skills blog 33: Working with vulnerable groups: Supporting people affected by food insecurity: ideas from practitioners

Last year, Katy Gordon, a PhD student took part in an internship within CFHS. Katy ran an online survey and interviewed practitioners to find out how they supported people experiencing food insecurity on their cooking skills courses. Her full report ‘Just getting on with it’ is now available.  Meanwhile here are few examples of activities they …

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Cooking skills blog 32: Practitioner guest blog: ‘the benefits of being forgetful and burning rice’

Chris Mantle ANutr, Senior Food and Health Development Worker, is our guest blogger this week. Chris is a member of our cooking skills study group and runs regular cooking courses for Edinburgh Community Food. Chris gives his thoughts on the benefits of not always being the perfect cook when running community cooking courses. ‘Having grown up – essentially …

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Cooking skills blog 31: Cooking course resources: updates from REHIS

Yesterday I attended the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) seminar for practitioners who run the REHIS accredited Elementary Cooking skills course and other REHIS food and health courses. REHIS, Obesity Action Scotland, Food Standards Scotland and I, provided updates on resources and information around food and health and/ or training. Updates included: Planned …

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