Tasty grub on a student budget on show at Freshers' Festival in Glasgow
Friday 23 September 2011
Rising star chef Claire Gardner will relive her own student days by cooking up a variety of affordable, tasty and healthy dishes at next week’s Freshers’ Festival to be held in Glasgow's George Square.
Claire (25) from Glasgow, an award-winning chef from the Hilton Glasgow, will join the Food Standards Agency at the festival to demonstrate how student fare needn’t be all pot noodles and beans on toast.
Students will see Claire preparing and cooking a feast of delicious dishes with an international flavour, including Spanish omelette, Irish potato and bean soup, Moroccan couscous and of course the student classic spaghetti Bolognese.
All the dishes have been chosen for their affordability, nutritious content and ease of preparation, and are designed to appeal to students who may be cooking for themselves for the very first time.
As well as showing how easy it is to cook up tasty grub, Claire will be dishing useful hints and tips on how to eat healthily and, importantly, how to avoid food poisoning by observing basic food safety rules.
Visitors to the Food Standards Agency in Scotland stand will also be able to taste the results at the end of each demonstration, which will take place at regular intervals throughout the two-day festival.
Charles Milne, Director, Food Standards Agency in Scotland, said: 'This is the Agency’s first ever visit to a fresher festival and we are delighted to have the opportunity to engage with students in Scotland, and talk directly about issues that matter to them.
'This is an important life event for them, as many of them will be leaving home for the first time and experiencing freedoms that they’ve never had before. We’re here to advise them on how to feed themselves properly, and to warn them of the dangers of poor food hygiene and provide helpful advice so they can avoid food poisoning when preparing food.
'I hope the young adults coming along to this event will be able to learn how easy it can be to eat a balanced diet and follow good food hygiene practices while still enjoying the many challenges of student life.'
A handy recipe book featuring of all Claire’s dishes will be available to take away, along with a variety of goodies and useful information from the Food Standards Agency.
Notes to Editors:
- The Food Standards Agency Food and You annual survey collects robust quantitative data to allow us to compare attitudes and behaviours between different groups within the population, and how these change over time. The survey also gives us the opportunity to carry out follow-up interviews (with people who give us their permission to do so) to explore some issues in greater depth.
- The 16 - 24 age group was identified in our Food and You survey as having knowledge gaps in relation to food safety and healthy eating.
- Claire Gardner started her culinary career at Michael Caines at the Abode Hotel, Glasgow before moving to the Hilton, Glasgow where she is now Chef de Partie. She won a bronze medal at the Scottish Culinary Championships at Scothot 2009, was a finalist at Young Scottish Seafood Chef of the Year 2009 and earlier this year achieved a merit certificate at ScotHot 2011.
- Claire Gardner is a member of the Federation of Chefs Scotland – see link below.
- The Food Standards Agency is an independent UK wide government department set up as a food safety watchdog to protect the public’s health and consumer interests in relation to food.
- The FSA in Scotland supports the Scottish Government’s ‘Preventing Overweight and Obesity in Scotland’ and the Scottish Government’s ‘Recipe for Success – Scotland’s National Food and Drink Policy’ – see links below.
External links The Food Standards Agency has no responsibility for the content of external websites
Communications Unit,
6th Floor, St. Magnus House,
25 Guild Street,
Aberdeen AB11 6NJ
Tel: 01224 285120 or 285127
Fax: 01224 285167
Email: press.scotland@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk