The JOFF “Big Rig” HQ: What You Need To Know

The JOFF “Big Rig” HQ: What You Need To Know

Fri 10 Feb 2012

Story by The Food Revolution Team
 

Since launching at TED 2010, the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation (JOFF) “Big Rig” Mobile Teaching Kitchen has been on the road for a year now, empowering, educating and engaging communities along the way to love and enjoy good food. So far over 1,000 people have been taught to cook on the Mobile Kitchen.

What You Can Find On This Page:

• Why A Mobile Teaching Kitchen?
• The Route So Far
• Partnerships
• Events
• Images & Videos

Why A Mobile Teaching Kitchen?



"Cooking is an essential life skill; that not only improves lives, but can also save them. But until cooking is made accessible to every man, woman and child, the health epidemic and the costs that go with it will continue to rise."

Jamie Oliver

Over the past few generations, many parts of the world seem to have forgotten that food education and cooking skills are crucial to maintaining healthy communities and a healthy planet. As a result, we’re seeing frightening health statistics and diet-related diseases among adults, teenagers and children, which are completely preventable. The JOFF Big Rig Kitchen is one of the strongest weapons we have, travelling around various communities, welcoming them on board and teaching life-changing cooking skills. The ‘Big Rig’ offers a 5-week cooking curriculum and a 10-week comprehensive cooking program offered to community and corporate programs.

The 5 and 10-week programs teach students how to prepare quick, affordable family meals made with fresh, whole ingredients, how to shop and store ingredients, food safety and much more. Communities learn not only how to cooking safely, but also how to take control of what is going into their bodies with nutritional education.

These courses are not available online but you can download the available recipes to make at home. Remember to post your cooking photos on the Food Revolution Community wall!

The Route So Far



The “Big Rig” is staffed by culinary instructors trained by a Jamie Oliver food team and supported by The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities team. For now the truck is California based, the truck map shows you the route and this is where the truck has been in the past year:

• SPRING 2011 – The “Big Rig” is launched at TED 2011 in Long Beach

• SUMMER 2011 – Challengers Boys and Girls Club, South Central, Los Angeles, California. Classes kicked into high gear at Challengers Boys and Girls Club. Program Manager Lisa Fontanesi and her crew of chef-instructors spent the summer leading kids through hands-on classes, teaching recipes and discussing nutrition.

• FALL 2011 – Truck hosted at Long Beach Community College, Downtown, Long Beach, California. In September, the Big Rig Teaching Kitchen moved to Long Beach, where it doubled its weekly classes, teaching 320 people per week. Classes here included two exclusively Spanish-speaking classes per week and a Khmer-speaking teacher on staff for the Cambodian population that attended the cooking lessons.

• WINTER 2012 - This January the truck has just set up in Santa Ana, where they held their successful open day on Jan 30th at Latino Health Access, as the Big Rig is located in the LHA parking lot.

Partnerships



The California Endowment Having partnered with the California Endowment, the Mobile Teaching Kitchen has spent the last year travelling around California, visiting various schools and clubs and welcoming communities on board to educate them about food, teaching not only recipes but also discussing nutritional issues.

Events



Nutrition Revolution Together, the ‘Big Rig’ Mobile Kitchen, First 5 LA and the California Endowment have already cosponsored community events featuring food demonstrations for parents on healthy cooking and resources on healthy eating and sourcing local food.

Challengers 43rd Annual Pancake Breakfast, While set up at Challengers, the Mobile Kitchen took part in their 43rd Pancake Breakfast, serving about 500 smoothies – made with 90 bananas, 36 pounds of mixed fruit, 5 gallons of orange juice, a few quarts of yogurt and plenty of oats!

Images & Videos



Check out our ‘Big Rig Mobile Kitchen’ album to see what’s been happening on board the truck so far.

The Food Revolution Truck, A Mobile Food Classroom: Teaching High School Students brought to the truck by ‘InnerCity Struggle’, at the California Endowment.

The Food Revolution Truck, Teaching Gardens: Teaching gardens at Challengers Boys and Girls club

The Food Revolution & “Big Rig” Teams

Visit Me Want the JOFF ‘Big Rig’ Kitchen to visit your town?

Follow The Truck Follow the truck on twitter and get daily updates from the team on board, from new destinations to delicious recipe ideas.