Mark helps Basildon get healthy
Mark, a Masterchef of Great Britain, invited chefs and owners of nine cafes and restaurants in the South Essex town to his cooking academy in Earls Colne as part of the ‘Our Basildon Our Food’ scheme. During a day-long training session, the chefs each prepared a new healthy eating option for their own eating establishments.
The tasty dishes, which included homemade tomato and basil soup, curried fishcakes, a chicken and vegetable jacket potato filling, plus a fish and vegetable pie, are now on sale in each of the venues, following a successful launch during which 1,500 portions of food were served to shoppers in Basildon during a two-hour period.
Said Mark: “The scheme aims to show that healthy food can be tasty and fun as well as being good for us. All the chefs joined forces to show off their new dishes at the tasting event and it was a huge success.”
Organiser Lisa Hawker, from the Foundation for Essex Arts which is organising the three month half-price food promotion on behalf of NHS South West Essex, said: “It was a magnificent start to the scheme, far surpassing our expectations. So many people came to try out the healthy options and the reaction was really positive. Our thanks go to the restaurants who are subsidising the half-price dishes.”
For more information on the Our Basildon project and the Heritage Trail, please see www.ourbasildon.org.
