Volunteers, community groups and businesses have shared a taste of Westminster in a lockdown cookbook showcasing favorite recipes from the borough’s care residents.
It features some creative meals that people have cooked in a time when food has played such an important role in the closed off lives of the residents. And volunteers have cooked delicious meals for strangers in their community.
Recipes come from kitchens around the world and include roasted sweet potato and aromatic chickpea stew from the 5-star Berkeley Hotel, Jamaican jerk chicken and Cities of London and Westminster MP Nickie Aiken’s Italian Sausage Pasta.
The free e-Book features the Tuesday Club – a group of care residents from Westminster who usually meet to cook and chat.
And during a Zoom call, they discussed what they could cook.
Many of them contributed their own recipes, including Ashleigh Marchant who came up with a healthy recipe for squash salad.
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The 22-year-old kept very busy during the lockdown and explained that she developed her recipe including a chicken option and a vegetarian version.
“It was really good to be included in the cookbook. I don’t do extravagant stuff but adapted it. I usually have butter-nut squash in the soup, she said.
“I wanted to make something nice that was pretty basic that tasted good and had a shout-out to fitness.”
She has also grown lots of vegetables in pots at her home in Westminster, including carrots, radishes, tomatoes, spinach and strawberries.
Ashleigh plays left wing for the AFC Reserves and has just returned to socially distanced training which means healthy eating is very important to her.
But during the lockdown, she got on her bike to shop for Westminster Connects, delivering groceries to vulnerable residents.
“It was really good to help people who were sheltering,” she said. “I just felt like I wanted to help if I could.
And she also helped out in the shop at St Mary’s Hospital giving out food and other supplies to our NHS heroes, delivering food to the wards.
“We brought something to make them smile,” she said.
Ashleigh continues to volunteer at the hospital and said that helped her stay busy during this challenging time as well.
She added: “I listened to myself and knew what helped me is exercise and helping other people. It’s really important to keep your mind occupied.
“It’s been a very strange time for everyone. Hopefully we can focus on the best.”
She fit her volunteer tour between finishing her dissertation and the exams for her degree in criminology and sociology, and like her peers, she took her exams remotely.
And she has just started training for a job in the emergency department of the London Ambulance Service.
Due to the lockdown, the first training was done remotely, then Ashleigh enjoyed cycling over to Barking, which helped keep her fit for football.
She is determined to make the people who supported her during her time in care proud of her.
“I always want to give back to my area and my city,” she said.
Westminster council leader Rachael Robathan said: “I believe this cookbook will grow as a resource and in time may prove to be one of the more unusual legacies of this unique period.”
And the cabinet member for children’s services, Timothy Barnes, praised the book’s range of delicious recipes to inspire residents.
“I’m proud to see our caregivers featured in the free cookbook and I’ll definitely be trying some of their delicious recipes. Through the Markers Enterprise program, many caregivers are engaged in exciting, entrepreneurial activities, and this is just one more example on how the team at Westminster Council work with them to help them learn new skills and to proudly display their talents.”
You can find A Taste of Westminster here
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