Project Food delivers cooking sessions for children attending local secondary schools, including those at Axe Valley Academy, who face a range of challenges such as food insecurity, poor attendance, and special educational needs (SEN). Many of these children struggle with anxiety, behaviour difficulties or complex relationships with food. These sessions provide a safe, nurturing space where teenagers can explore food, build confidence, and develop healthier habits—both emotionally and physically.
Sam's Story
Sam* attended our Cooking Club for two half terms. He is 15 years old in Year 11 and has struggled with school attendance for some time. His family situation is chaotic and Sam frequently sleeps on the sofa and spends much of the night gaming.
When he started with Project Food, he was very easily influenced by any bad behaviour from others in the group but, although this remained an issue at times, as he started to engage more with the cooking and Project Food staff and volunteers, his behaviour also started to improve. His lack of confidence when he first started the sessions was really apparent but the more sessions he attended the more his confidence in his abilities grew. His mum stopped one of our volunteers in the street and said ‘Sam is cooking at home loads now! He was buzzing with enthusiasm after a local visit and has been really enjoying his time at Project Food’.
The farm visit was a real turning point for Sam – he absolutely loved the animals, which seemed to help him remain calm too, and was really enthusiastic about all the other farm activities, including the growing/ planting talks and activities and cooking quesadillas for lunch. We also had a visit from a Rachel de Thample one week, who made a sourdough starter with the group for them to take home, as well as sourdough pizzas and cheese straws (Sam loved these) at the session. The following week we discussed we asked whether anyone had used their sourdough starter, fully expecting them all to say no. But Sam had used his and had made the cheese straws again – we were so pleased and so was he (in a quiet sort of way!).
At one point Sam had been suspended from school so had thought he also wouldn’t be able to attend the course. However, when we phoned his mum to let her know that he could, he jumped straight out of bed and was with us in 10 minutes!
Following his time with us, Sam has decided that he now wants to be a chef and we have kept engaged with him via the school. We are working with River Cottage to provide him with some work experience both at their kitchens and also with Project Food.
