NUTRITION IN PRACTICE AT LEITHS SCHOOL OF FOOD AND WINE

The Pure Package, London’s award-winning gourmet dietary food delivery service joined forces last year with Leiths School of Food and Wine last year to launch Nutrition in Practice: The Professional Chefs’ Accreditation. The Nutrition in Practice focused on nutrition and dietary theory and practice and proved to be hugely successful. So this year the course is back, and is now being rolled out to students from a wider range of culinary backgrounds, from amateur cooks to professional chefs.

The Pure Package has long been established as a leading healthy dining option for Londoners, especially those who are time poor. The meals offered by Pure Package are based on the principles of the ‘perfectly balanced diet’. Each day’s delivery includes three meals and two snacks, all of which are designed to ensure that the diner receives the correct balance of proteins, carbohydrates and essential fats. The Pure Package has a solid celebrity fan base, and includes stars such as Hugh Jackman and Lily Cole. Leiths School of Food and Wine, founded by Prue Leith, has long garnered an international reputation for being one of the leading cookery schools in the UK for both amateurs and professionals, and its alumni includes notable names such Lorraine Pascale and Matt Tebbutt.

The Nutrition in Practice Programme will therefore by taught by the culinary teachers at Leiths in partnership with nutritional experts from The Pure Package. The programme will offer a comprehensive understanding of the nutritional make up and effect of food, and will be presented in informative discussions and hands-on cooking sessions. The course is fully accredited and is certified by the Nutritional Therapy Education Commission.

I was invited to a preview evening of Nutrition in Practice: The Accreditation hosted by Jennifer Irvine, the founder of Pure Package, and Camilla Schneideman, the Managing Director of Leiths. The evening opened with a very informative talk by Jennifer on the details on the programme which will cover topics such as portion control; managing food allergies and intolerances; the importance of blood sugar regulation in weight management and complex carbohydrates.

Nutrition in Practice at Leiths – Jennifer

After this we set about preparing some of the dishes that will be covered in the programme. The meat course was a dish of kaffir lime and lamb brochettes with sweet aji amarillo chillies which were deliciously fragrant from the lime leaves. We cooked these under the salamander so no added oil was required. The lamb was accompanied by a very healthy salad of baby spinach with baby kale, feta, spring onion and chillies with lots of nutritious sprouted seeds which were deliciously fresh and vibrant.

Nutrition in Practice at Leiths – Lamb brochettes

Nutrition in Practice at Leiths – Healthy green salad!

Also very appetising and full of fibre and protein was a quinoa salad with roasted grapes and hazelnuts. We roasted the grapes with a pomegranate molasses which caramelised the grapes nicely and served as a wonderful dressing for the salad.

Nutrition in Practice at Leiths -Quinoa salad

We then all gathered around to enjoy the fruits of our labour, the result of which was a wonderful and healthy meal rounded off with a dessert of baked figs with a yoghurt berry gelato. Delicious!

The Nutrition in Practice: The Accredition will run from 21 September until 23 November 2015, every Monday from 10am until 4pm and is priced at £2,995.

Website: http://www.leiths.com/nutrition-practice/