Buckie cooking workshops help fight cost of living crisis
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A BUCKIE caterer has been playing his part to help local folk fight soaring food prices while putting healthy meals on the table.
Mike Coull, who runs Little Kitchen Outside Catering, held two workshops in the Fishermen's Hall, Buckie, recently focusing on helping people get the most from their food budget while still making mouth-watering meals.
In the first session Mr Coull looked at making lentil soup, a pasta sauce which could be used with smoked sausage or paprika chicken plus various uses for noodles. The next day the spotlight fell on Cullen skink, mince and tatties, sausage stew and a vegetable stir fry.
Speaking after the end of the second session, he said: "The idea was to try and use low cost ingredients to make meals which were affordable but healthy and hearty.
"It was all about helping people get the most for their money in the cost of living crisis using ingredients they can easily find in the likes of Lidl's or Tesco. This included using veg a lot as well as chicken and anything you might find at the cheaper counters. For example, we used broken fish for the Cullen skink, which is a cheaper option.
"Another aspect I looked at was how to bulk up certain meals with various things.
"There was a good mix of folk who came along for the two days, with a mix of ages, too. It seemed to go very well, it was more of a friendly get together and chat than a formal workshop.
"I think everybody who came along took something useful away from it."
Mr Coull also demonstrated some of the tools of the trade he uses to create his meals.
The workshops were part of the build up to In Motion Theatre's Other Side of the River play, which took place in the Fishermen's Hall on Sunday, April 30.
The show is currently on tour and In Motion Theatre has partnered with community food hubs, larders, food banks, community lunches and schools in order to deliver a number of pre-show activities. Mr Coull was approached by the group to run the food workshops.
On the day of the show, workshop participants prepare a meal for audience members, who sit down to eat and watch the play unfold in front of them.
The show's writer and director, Lisa Nicoll, described the food made for the event as "outstanding".
She continued: "It was brilliant to bring Other Side of the River to Buckie.
"The food that the youth team made for the audience was outstanding and was great to have the community involved in this way with the production so that everyone felt part of the experience. Our production manager said it was the best soup on tour yet!
"We know not many theatre shows come to Buckie and it was great to see the audiences come out on a Sunday afternoon and enjoy themselves. I spent a lot of time coming up before the show to get to know people and the community and myself and the team have been so welcomed."
The play follows driven but lonely city girl Beth who is desperate to get a juicy article published so she can be noticed by her boss, her arch-rival Suzy McIntyre and to hear her sick Dad say he is proud of her before he passes away. Beth enters small Scottish town Ailm, which has been described as one of the worst towns to live in by the media, in the hope she will find a ‘good’ story that will make her feel successful and noticed.
She is welcomed to the town by extended family Jo, Andy, Meg and Dan who, despite many obstacles in their life, know how to pull together and get on with things.
When the van which delivers food to the community and hosts the mobile bingo nights breaks down, the town must find a solution to get them back on the road again. While Jo, Andy, Meg and Dan plan their charity fundraiser, Beth’s questioning begins to get to the bottom of their secrets.
