Now that ‘hospitality’ is reawakening, we’ve shown leadership by holding our first face-to-face social event – a small lunch at Watermen’s Hall for 24, which seemed to be enjoyed by everyone, and we have Livery Lunches planned for Monday 21 and Wednesday 30 June.
With so many people having the second vaccine jab, and the final stage of lockdown planned to end at Mid-Summer, we have dates in the diary for more events. The Hospitality sector is in a dire state and we can do our bit to help by enjoying ourselves socially as well as funding, as we normally do, Cookery training and education and the relief of hardship.
This might also be a useful time to look back briefly over the past 15 months and see what we’ve achieved, before moving on to look at the future.
Early in the pandemic, one of the Cooks Charity Trustees raised a pertinent point: “when this is over, how will we answer the question, ‘what did the Livery Companies do to benefit society during the crisis?’.” It’s worth briefly reiterating here what has already been published on the website and in previous editions of What’s Cooking and also making the point that, while the Company and the Cooks Charity are two separate legal entities and the Charity Trustees are completely independent in their decision making, the proverbial man on the Clapham omnibus is unlikely to draw such a distinction, especially since the Cooks Charity was founded with funds from the Company and individuals, and its Objectives closely mirror those of the Company.
In addition to all our normal planned Charitable expenditure, the Trustees immediately allocated almost one tenth of the Charity’s capital to a dedicated Covid Relief Fund, aimed initially at relieving hardship among chefs caused by the pandemic. Almost half of this has been spent and we expect further demands on it even though the lockdowns are ending. The Company itself has allocated a further £100,000 to a Covid Relief Fund for worthy cases which, while being associated with Hospitality, do not fall within the Cooks Charity Objectives – and about half of that has been spent.
I think we can be proud of what the Company and the Charity have contributed so far and we will continue to do what we can to support the trade. You can read more about specifics elsewhere in this newsletter.
It will come as no surprise to Cooks that a number of clear messages have come out of the pandemic about the increased mortality risk associated with obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle, hence, the importance of a healthy diet.
I was reading recently about research by NASA into the opportunities for manned space travel to Mars. Interestingly, one of their early models was another Cook – Captain James Cook, Royal Navy, whose voyages of exploration some 250 years ago are being used as a model of how to prepare for long and dangerous missions into the unknown. Scurvy, caused by bad diet and nutritional deficiency, had killed more sailors than anything else, including enemy action, and a contemporary medical study concluded that, across society as a whole and excluding widespread famine, scurvy had caused the most suffering of all diseases.
While Captain Cook is still regarded as one of the world’s foremost explorers, navigators, and astronomers, who discovered more of our planet than any other single individual, he believed that his greatest achievement was in not losing a single sailor to scurvy in any of his three historic voyages – the first two of which lasted some three years – largely because he focused on prevention rather than cure. He is credited with being the first to recognise the importance of Vitamin C but it was, in fact, his understanding of a balanced, healthy diet, good hygiene practices, and taking a holistic view of his men’s welfare and the environment in which they worked and lived that made him truly stand out.
The importance of prevention rather than cure is even more relevant today and we, as Cooks, are in a good position, along with the other Food Group Livery Companies, to influence the forthcoming National Food Strategy.
It’s interesting that London has had a Strategy for over 15 years, created by the London Food Board, with its core aim being to improve the diet, and hence the health, of London’s population and yet, nationally, the government is only just catching up and we’re one of the few developed countries that does not have one. There’s plenty more to be done in this field and we can, and should, be at the forefront, especially in our relationship with the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London
One of the early lessons learnt from the pandemic was that overweight or obese patients were more seriously affected than others of a similar age without underlying medical conditions. In looking forward to the happy days when this pandemic is behind us, and as we examine what role the Company should be playing in Society, it will be a good start to take a full and active part in the debate and education about diet and healthy eating, especially in schools, hospitals, and care homes. I commend to you the study by Freeman Prue Leith and Philip Shelley into improving Hospital food which is on our website.
Looking forward optimistically to the government’s plans for ending the lockdown on Mid-Summer’s Day, we aim to start socialising again with Livery Lunches and our Prize Winners Lunch on Wednesday 21 July. Planning for our Mansion House Banquet on Wednesday 13 October is well advanced and we will be having a Company float in the Lord Mayor’s Show on Saturday 13 November.
So, with luck, we will be able to return to a form of normality and I look forward to seeing as many of the Company as I can between now and November.
