Clubhouse cooks up with local cubs
489 days ago
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A Sodexo team from Sports & Leisure’s Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse and Delta Arrivals Lounge at London Heathrow Airport has formed a close bond with a local Scout and Cub association, after spending time volunteering to help the youngsters pick up cooking skills.
Head chef Babu Badhrinarayanan and sous chef Vimalraj Arumugam, along with Delta lounge manager David Meader, joined a group of cubs in Sunbury-on-Thames in May. David has personally been involved with the 1st Sunbury Cub Scout Group for many years, having been a cub there himself and then an assistant and venture scout leader throughout the 1980s.
“We had 32 cub scouts in the class on the night,” explains David. “Babu and Vimalraj’s both gave up their free time to be there and help the cubs prepare and cook four dishes: a Spanish omelette, filo pastry parcels, strawberry and yogurt granola and a summer leaf salad with avocado, beetroot and radish.”
The cubs prepared everything under close supervision but it is a requirement of the badge that the youngsters undertake all food preparation themselves. The team gave a health, hygiene and safety briefing to the group before the cooking commenced.
Karen Miller, the leader of the cub section who has herself been with 1st Sunbury Scout Group for over 36 years, wrote a heartfelt letter of thanks for everything the team has done to ‘enrich scouting’.
“The benefit of such activities to our young people is immeasurable. The team was extremely professional and charming, engaging the young people and adults alike. You only have to look at the faces of the cubs to see they were enthralled by the activities; participating in cracking and beating eggs, chopping and pealing vegetables, assembling filo pastry parcels and so on. They learned about food safety and hygiene, ingredients and preparation, talked about allergens and food groups and of course learned how to handle knives safely.
“The wearing of chef hats added to the atmosphere and truly capped it for the cubs. Of course the best part for many was to share and eat the food you and they had prepared together – with many of them trying food they would not normally eat.
“We are very appreciative of the time you all took out of your busy schedules, not just on the night of your visit, but also your prior visit to look at our set up and facilities, and of course all the planning shopping and preparation that we all know goes into such events.”
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