Teenagers from Buckingham and Stowe turn up the heat in Climate Action Cook-up

Teenagers from Buckingham and Stowe joined forces in the kitchen for a Climate Action Cook-up.

A group of Stowe School students visited Buckingham Youth Club to take part in the joint cookery event on Monday, February 7.

Together, around 30 young people aged 12 to 17 from the youth club and Stowe cooked a vegetable bolognese with mashed potato, followed by bread pudding.

The idea for the Climate Action Cook-up, using surplus food from local supermarkets, came from Stowe's Climate Action Group, which is looking at ways of reducing food waste.

Youth club manager Katie Cleminson said the event was a great success.

She said: "We went completely overtime. They were very ambitious and some of them didn't have a lot of cooking experience but they just got stuck in.

"A few of them were really excited and desperate to get involved.

"Others weren't so sure, because some of them hadn't really cooked before, some of them hadn't seen the vegetarian mince and they weren't sure about trying vegetarian food.

"But as the night progressed and they saw what a brilliant group Stowe are and how really approachable and friendly the kids are, they kind of decided they'd get stuck in a little bit and help."

In the end, Katie said: "It turned out really well - and if we do another session we're hopeful that we can target some of the ones that never get involved with this kind of thing."

Most of the youngsters helped in their own way, she said.

"Some of them helped with the dessert, some of them helped with the washing up, some of them helped with the tidying up, some of them just helped sort the food out.

"Whatever aspect they wanted to help with, they helped with.

"They were a bit nervous to start with, because there were new people coming in and it's the first time we've done it, but once they kind of relaxed and got into it, they said they had a really good time - especially some of our quieter members, they found it really great.

"Sometimes the quiet ones are the ones that maybe don't want to volunteer for things, and it was really nice to see some of them coming forward and having the confidence to join in.

"Lots of them were working out how to cut up peppers and onions and different vegetables and getting to grips with the cookers and all of that stuff.

"And managing the ovens and all of the equipment was great because I think some kids don't get the chance to go in the kitchen and get stuck in."

She added: "We haven't done enough of that really, with all the restrictions.

"At one stage we couldn't have the kitchen open, and then we had to restrict the numbers so that made it quite difficult.

"And now, because a lot of the restrictions have come off, we've finally been able to do work with another group."

And Katie said she hoped to be able to repeat the experience in the future.

"We really are hoping that we will be able to reuse food that would have been wasted otherwise and turn it into something good.

"And we've learned about timings and how long it takes for everything to cook.

"Some of it got a bit overdone and we had to rescue it from the oven, some of it wasn't cooking quick enough, and it's just all those small things that you learn when you're cooking."

And she looks forward to working with Stowe again.

"I was just so surprised and happy that Stowe contacted us," she said;

"I think we're going to try and do a lot more of this kind of thing.

"It's really beneficial from both sides and I think for us we could see the difference in confidence - the Stowe pupils were quite confident and our guys, some of them aren't.

"And I think it's such a good thing to do, just meet with new groups of people.

"Some of the kids from Stowe said they'd never been to Buckingham."

Stowe geography teacher Shelley Rowley said: "It was fantastic to see all of the young students working together, making the puddings and eating together as a group.

"We received such a warm welcome from the youth centre, and our pupils enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.

"We are hoping to continue building our partnership with the youth centre, hosting a summer cook-up event as well as looking at the feasibility of establishing a Community Fridge at the centre, where surplus food can be redistributed to the local community on a weekly basis.

"This will enable us to help reduce food waste across Buckingham and make a positive change to help tackle climate change."