The last few weeks has seen a smörgåsbord of cooking classes taking place.

Jeff came back to teach us that low-carbon food need not be laborious and prepared ‘fast food in the kitchen’. His recipes are undoubtedly tastier and better for you than more conventional forms of fast food: if you want to find out exactly what goes into your food we recommend Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation or any of Felicity Lawrence‘s excellent books.

We had a host of chefs from the One World Society teaching us a range of exciting dishes: from homemade gnocchi to tofu and ginger beer (although perhaps not all on the same plate!). Fife is the home of the potato: the Kingdom even has its own potato day. You can’t get much more local or low-carbon than that!

Elena from the Greek Society also kindly hosted a class. She made the most scrumptious spinach and feta pie and topped it off with a Greek Salad. As the sun shines on St Andrews today, it seems that winter might be finally over and we can vary our diets and indulge in some healthy and nutritious (and now carbon-guilt free) salads. To keep up to date with what is in season, check out this great Scottish seasonal calendar from ‘Whats on your plate?’

Last, but by no means least, we also had Clare teaching us delicious vegan baking: proving that you don’t need eggs or dairy to make a darn fine cake. If you are looking for some more vegan recipes we suggest the excellent blog of Joy the Baker who not only has a whole host of regular baking recipes but also caters well for vegans and gluten-free diets too. 

The good news is it is not too late to take part in all this fun. Clare will be joining us again tomorrow (Friday) to cook up some tasty vegan moussaka (which will mark my first foray into the world of vegan cheese!) and today we will be joined by Emilia (SD lecturer) and Lisa (another OneWorld-er) who will host an action packed session of Bolivian Soup; Conversations about Food; and ideas for left-over vegetables (please feel free to bring some along). Class details can be found in the usual place.

All the recipes used in the classes are also available online.