Chef and child health campaigner Jamie Oliver celebrates 15 years of his food education programme– the Ministry of Food – delivering essential lessons on how to cook and eat healthy, delicious and sustainable food to over 115,000 people in schools and communities across the UK. To mark the milestone and to ensure even more impact, the Jamie Oliver Group announced this year it will invest £450,000 in Jamie’s Ministry of Food Foundation as it implements a new circular funding model.
Started in 2009 with Jamie’s frustration at the lack of government prioritisation of food education, the Ministry of Food initially launched with 5 sites across Rotherham, Bradford, Leeds, Newcastle and Stratford – all with the aim to inspire young people and families to cook from scratch. There are now 27 community sites and 43 schools across the UK, as well as an exciting new presence in Australia and the US, each delivering Jamie-crafted recipes and resources to regional community centres and schools, in underserved communities.
With an additional 24 sites rolling out this year, the Ministry of Food will reach an extra 40,000 people in 2024 with this year’s additional investment going towards funding new programmes across Glasgow, Preston, Cambridge, Plymouth and more. The organisation aims to have reached nearly 160,000 people by the end of 2024.
This month, the organisation also announced a new partnership with Food for Life, as part of its mission to make good food possible for all through its schools and early years food education programmes. The nationwide campaign, Plant and Share, will grant schools and nurseries free access to the Ministry of Food Kitchen Garden Project resources on top of the Plant and Share activities. From how to sow and grow plants and veggies to how to reduce food waste, the resources will reach over 6,000 UK primary school children.
The Ministry of Food also recently launched its new Schools Programme pilot starting with 43 schools across the country trialling Jamie’s ‘10 Lessons to Save Your Life’, after research showed that 30% of school-aged children don’t know what makes a healthy diet. 10,000 children are currently involved in the programme and this year the programme aims to reach 25,000 additional young people aged 12-14. Lessons include easy, nutritious recipes and tutorials on key cooking techniques and nutrition.
Alison Corfield, head of social impact and sustainability at Jamie Oliver, says: “15 years of the Ministry of Food and a quarter of a century of Jamie’s social impact work is such an exciting opportunity for people to acknowledge and celebrate the power and importance of grass-roots education, and that the mission to get the nation cooking is still ongoing! We are thrilled as a business to be making a sizable donation every year to the Ministry of Food Foundation – bringing our social impact arm into the main body of The Jamie Oliver Group. We aim to reach 1 million lives by 2030 and are really excited to get more schools and sites on board.”
