Dinner lady Nora teaches Hull Uni to cook

2nd October 2008, 10:32am

Nora Sands, the dinner lady who paired up with Jamie Oliver during the Jamie’s School Dinners series, has attended Hull University to teach the first year undergraduates how to prepare healthy food.

For many students Freshers' Week is a daunting time and learning to live without home cooking is a hard-task for the new students.

After leaving her dinner lady job last year, Nora now tours the country demonstrating how to cook healthy meals on a budget.

Nora explained why teaching the students essential skills is important: "Many school leavers come to University without knowing how to cook but my demonstrations will teach even the most inexperienced cooks how to make simple, healthy food on a budget. Who knows, my recipes might even help the students to impress their housemates and even mums and dads when they come to visit!"

Professor Derek Colquhoun of the University of Hull is a strong advocate of healthy food. He gave expert advice to Jamie Oliver's team before the school dinners programme was launched.

His recent projects include evaluating the Hull's Free Healthy School Meals scheme - the first of its kind in the UK - and working with the Duchess of York to educate people about healthy lifestyles.

Professor Colquhoun said: "Nora has a vibrant personality and a real passion for food. I hope that her enthusiasm for home cooking will rub off on our students and convince them to cook fresh food rather than living off takeaways."

He continued: "So much effort has gone into raising awareness of healthy food among school children, but many of our students missed out on cookery lessons at school. I am delighted that the University is able to host such a useful and positive event for the new intake of students."

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