Aiming to reduce food poverty

Cooking Up is a charity aiming to enhance the health and wellbeing of people facing challenging circumstances in the London Borough of Richmond and neighbouring boroughs, by enabling them to cook healthy, tasty food for themselves and their families.

We run cookery lessons for groups of 6-10 people who prepare a meal for four to take home with the help of our trained volunteers. All our meals are cooked on the hob to save energy costs and we aim for all ingredients to cost under £1.50 per head.

We have a fully mobile kitchen which means that we can deliver the sessions throughout Richmond upon Thames and are currently working with partners in Ham, Hampton, Twickenham and Whitton.


Our recent partners include:

United Response, Richmond Aid, Ham Children's Centre, Skylarks, Inspired Hub, Multicultural Richmond

Made some Smoky Bean Fajitas this week at Ham Children’s Centre 🌮 Happy to report that fajitas are not only delicious and nutritious, it is also quite easy to make! Everyone really enjoyed making them and Leo tucked in at the end! Thank y
JOIN US! 🥬🌽🧄🥕🧅🌶 We are looking for local volunteers in Richmond upon Thames who are keen cooks and would like to make a positive difference in our community by helping others learn to cook affordable, healthy meals for themselves and their fa
Earlier this week at Ham Children's Centre, we worked with three families to help them prepare a delicious veggie fried rice meal to take home. It was such a lovely afternoon and we hope everyone enjoyed themselves. Leo (future food critic in train
A few weeks ago, we announced that we acquired some mobile kitchen equipment and will be able to travel anywhere within the Richmond borough to bring Cooking Up to everyone. This week, we are so proud to say WE ARE OFFICIALLY READY! Starting this W
HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE! It's a happy day at Cooking Up as we received more kitchen equipment at our storage facility at @bigyellowstorage for our mobile sessions. We are gearing up for our first mobile series later this month at Ham Children's Cent
Thank you Ham for such a great day 🫶 We had a fruitful time making some really great connections with local residents of Ham and other partner organisations. As always, great to see familiar faces from @ruils_community, @citizensadvicerichmond an
Ham, we are coming to you 🌮🥗🥦🍄🧄🍒 @richmond_council and @ruils_community are hosting a free, walk-in event at Ham Library this Friday March 31st from 11am – 2pm. There will be free basic health checks as a part of the “Health in Yo
We had a blast with 10 amazing attendees from @unitedresponse last night, creating a mouth-watering Red Lentil, Chickpea and Cauliflower Dhal! Lovely evening with lots of fun 👨‍🍳 These are the smiling faces that keep us going. Swipe to see mo
Screenshot 2023-08-16 at 10.55.50.png

What People Are Saying

“Our members in Ham had a wonderful time at their cooking session with “Cooking up” today. It was lovely to cook a nutritious recipe with the help of the amazing team of “Cooking Up” including their dedicated and friendly volunteers. Everyone had so much fun and the “Smoky Bean Fajitas” were just so yummy.Thank you Janet, John, Belinda and the entire team @ Cooking Up”

— Multicultural Richmond

“If you love cooking, then this is the volunteering role for you! It’s so rewarding to watch participants grow on confidence as they learn the joy of making their own food.”

— Christine, a volunteer

“It was lovely seeing the whole Cooking Up session in action. I’m mega impressed and hugely grateful. THANK YOU!”

— United Response

“The 5-week program provided by Cooking Up had a real beneficial impact on our clients, exceeding our expectations. Their team of fantastic volunteers demonstrated great passion and professionalism, creating a supportive and inclusive environment for our clients to develop their culinary skills and gain confidence in the kitchen. The feedback from our clients was overwhelmingly positive, and we are grateful for Cooking Up's dedication to making a difference in the lives of the individuals we serve at Richmond Aid. We can’t wait to put on more programs with Cooking Up in the future.”

— Josh Fisher, Richmond Aid

 Cooking Up is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation that aims to reduce food poverty by providing easy access to cooking skills and cooking facilities in the community.

We are supported by

Contact

Feel free to contact us with any questions.

Email
info@cookingup.org