JAMIE’S Ministry of Food is teaming up with Bradford charity Inn Churches to deliver community cooking classes across the Bradford district.

The Ministry of Food closed its John Street operation in January, after it fell victim to council budget cuts.

It had helped thousands of people to learn how to cook healthy, nutritious meals from scratch using fresh produce from local markets, as well as being signposted to other services promoting health and wellbeing, during more than eight years in the city centre.

Inn Churches helps those who are homeless or vulnerably housed, and through its Storehouse project collects, stores and distributes surplus food to people in need, turning food waste into healthy meals in their pay-as-you-feel cafe and for community groups across the Bradford district.

Classes will be delivered at Inn Churches’ Storehouse Cafe in Caledonia Street, Broomfields, on the edge of the city centre.

The Ministry of Food and Inn Churches teams will work together to offer eight-week cooking courses, masterclasses, school lessons and community events, helping people to feed themselves adequately and healthily.

Ministry of Food welfare manager Soraya Overend said: “We’re very pleased to be joining with Inn Churches and working with their fantastic team to continue to deliver excellence in activities promoting healthy eating.

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“We take huge pride in our work and are passionate about educating and empowering people to feed themselves healthily, and working from The Storehouse will enable us to extend and develop our work.”

Mandie Turner, project manager for Jamie’s Ministry of Food, said: “We are delighted that the Ministry of Food programme will continue in Bradford, through our new partnership with Inn Churches.”

Juli Thompson, CEO of Inn Churches, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Jamie’s Ministry of Food to The Storehouse. Many of the groups and communities we work with have identified food poverty as a key issue and working with the Ministry of Food will enable us to help and support individuals to feed themselves well no matter what their budget – with all the health and social benefits that brings.”

The move took place on Friday and the first courses are expected to be up and running next month.