Healthy Food Made Easy cookery classes are social, fun and educational

Healthy Food Made Easy – Pictured at the Limerick Milk Market were Roisin Ross, Healthy Limerick, Christine Gurnett, Senior Community Dietitian HSE, Healthy Food Made Easy learners Louise Canty, Karol Ann Canty and Caz Canty, Maeve Cosgrave, Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board/Healthy Food Made Easy Tutor and  Olivia O’Brien, LFP Coordinator. Picture: Richard Lynch/ilovelimerick

Healthy Food Made Easy cookery classes are social, fun and educational

By I Love Limerick correspondent Rachel Petticrew

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Roisin Ross, Healthy Limerick, Rachael McCarthy, MSC student in Nutrition and Dietetics UL, Christine Gurnett, Senior Community Dietitian HSE, Clare Davison, MSC student in Nutrition and Dietetics UL and Olivia O’Brien, LFP Coordinator. Picture: Richard Lynch/ilovelimerick

I Love Limerick has teamed up with Limerick Food Partnership to promote healthy food options in Limerick city and county. 

Limerick Food Partnership consists of a host of voluntary organisations, local community groups and state agencies who have come together to tackle food poverty by raising awareness for and improving access to healthy food options in several Limerick communities. 

The Healthy Food Made Easy (HFME) programme offers a basic nutrition and cookery course that helps people switch to a healthier diet, plan meals on a budget and create easy to cook meals. 

“The Healthy Food Made Easy is a national programme rolled out in Limerick city and county through the Limerick Food Partnership, Healthy Limerick and the HSE,” community dietitian, Christine Gurnette, tells I Love Limerick.

“Good nutrition plays a key part in promoting health and preventing chronic diseases. Research tells us that people who cook and eat at home generally have a healthier diet overall.”

The HFME course consists of six two-and-a-half-hour programmes, run over six weeks at the Southill Family Resource Centre.

HFME cookery tutor, Maeve Cosgrave, thoroughly enjoys the social aspect of the course. 

“Each week, we look at different aspects of a meal. Shopping for ingredients, cooking and then eating at the end. But we also get to have a bit of a giggle and a laugh. The most important part of the class is the sociable element – the cup of tea and the chat,” says Maeve. 

The programme so far has been a huge success, with many cooking enthusiasts looking to take part. The HMFE learners include three generations of the Canty family; Ann, Karol and Louise. 

“We wanted to do something together as a family and we all love to cook, so we got in touch with Maeve, who signed us up for this amazing programme,” explains Karol, who partakes with her mother and daughter. 

“I’d recommend HMFE to anyone. It’s sociable, great fun and we get to eat loads of delicious food!”

Limerick Food Partnership funds the HFME programme through the Healthy Ireland Fund. The partnership is coordinated by Limerick-wide community development organisation, PAUL Partnership.

Email Olivia O’Brien at [email protected] or call on 087 4420995 for more info.

For more information on the programme, go HERE 

For more information on the Limerick Food Partnership, go HERE 

For more Limerick Food Partnership stories, go HERE