Alison McGovern: Festival highlighted value of good food

Sep 7 2011 Bromborough and Bebington News

The Wirral Food Festival, held over the bank holiday weekend, was a real celebration of Wirral – and especially our food.

The festival was a great success, despite the weather, and showed again there is an appetite for quality food produced by great local companies.

A few days before the food festival I also experienced what it is like to make a traditional English cake. Thanks to Ceri Newton from Gorge’us in Bebington, who invited me to take part in one of her cake baking workshops to learn how to make her award-winning Victoria sponge cake.

In a time of global restaurants and news and culture travelling quickly around the world, there is something reassuring about learning how to make a delicious cake people have enjoyed for years.

Ceri is a very talented cake- maker, whereas I am not! Over the years, I have only managed sponge cakes which are somewhat flat and a bit hard.

So it was fascinating to learn some of her skills in the kitchen, then enjoy a chat over a cup of tea. It reminded me of the importance of learning about our food.

We take a great deal for granted these days – frozen food, convenience shops open until late, ready-made meals.

But there is real skill in making good food and we are better off for having people around who take the time and effort to find quality ingredients and cook them properly.

Nowhere is this more important than in schools. Many of our schools have changed the food they serve to make it more fresh and offer young people a better lunchtime meal than in the past. I believe this should continue.

Schools will find it harder, given the budget constraints they are under, but while cooking is a talent some are blessed with, it is also a skill which needs to be learned.

It is a craft which should continue to be taught at school – equally to boys and girls – so they can see the satisfaction and enjoyment of a good meal put together by hand.

I look forward to more Wirral award-winning chefs in the future as we continue to inspire the next generation.

Or at least, young people today able to do better than me in the kitchen – and knowing not to open the oven door before the cake is finished!