Kitchen in a Kettle | By J.A.K. Neil

Aim

To write a cook book specifically for kettle cooking.

 (An Excerpt from 'Kitchen in a Kettle | By J.A.K. Neil')

The Story of Kettle Chef  

The 'Kettle Chef' project started in August 2018. at Rock Trust, an organization that supports young people through youth homelessness. I was attending a cooking group that was held on a Monday night to help young people get inspired about cooking and taught them basic kitchen skills. That night, one of the support workers, who was young and full of life said “I wonder if there is a way to cook half decent meals from just the bare minimum” and from that moment on the seed was planted.   

I became homeless in June 2018 due to difficult circumstances with my parents. I arrived in Edinburgh with a few bags of clothes, no plan of action, a terrible feeling of anxiety and no sense of direction.   

I sofa surfed for a month or so, living with a friend. In return I cooked them dinner and helped around the house. Rock Trust had been supporting me with going back and forward to the Council offices to try and find me stable accommodation. I eventually found accommodation in a B&B on Leith Links. During my time there I experienced the horrors of poverty in Edinburgh. Mould growing in the shower, poor plumbing and every time I took a shower it would go from warm too scalding hot very quickly burning my skin. There was dust in every corner of the room, paint crumbling off the celling and an array of bodily fluids splattered over the walls. The room I was assigned was directly outside a carpark meaning I had very unsettled sleep at nights. People in the accommodation would kick off at all hours of the night making me very grateful that I had a bathroom in my room, as most accommodations only offer shared toilet facilities. The toilet in my room had very bad plumbing, if another resident where to flush their toilet in another room, my room smell of sewage for hours, when toilets flushed, they made a terrible grinding noise that would wake me up during the night. You were only allowed to use the toilet paper provided as any other toilet paper would block the drains. People would knock on my window, asking if I wanted to buy weed or coke off them. Thank God I had curtains.   

Out of all things however, my saving grace through all this, was none other than a cheap, well used kettle. I had access to a microwave but only between the hours of 7 and 8 at night, which was impossible with the hours I was working at the time. I had started an apprenticeship as a chef but it didn’t last with all the stress and insecurities that come along with living in temporary accommodation.   

I ended up leaving and reluctantly rolling onto the benefits system. With very little money to live off of, living in a hostile environment, processing the events I was going through, my mental health plummeted into a vicious cycle of smoking, drinking and suicidal ideation. I was ready to give up. Some nights I had to live in the Edinburgh Crisis Centre to assure my safety wasn’t compromised by how low I was feeling. It was here, that many a time, I had time to reflect and think about my next steps.  

soon, pot noodles and cuppa soups would start to taste bland, giving me very little energy to be able to function physically or mentally. I would spend days upon days sleeping, nights upon nights wide awake wondering where life would take me. I felt like a failure not being able to continue on my apprenticeship, not being able to pay my national insurance and not being a ‘functioning member of society’ as they would say. I was riddled with self-doubt, insecurity, inhibition and started to become detached from living. I became very reserved, no longer looking outwards at the bigger picture, but inwards. a bit too much. which then started a chain reaction of anxiety, paranoia and physical symptoms of stress.   

However, after a while I got sick of feeling sorry for myself and decided to do something about the things that could be fixed and not worrying about the things that were out of my control. After all, it is called temporary accommodation for a reason. It wasn’t going to be forever, and I told myself, that if temporary accommodation isn't forever, then surely these feeling and emotions won't last forever ether. 

No matter what, the world will continue turning, people keep on living. They get older, wiser, more clued up. surly that can't come without some sort of experience? In order to learn. In order to understand the world around you. You have to experience it. you have to live it. no matter how bad, how difficult, how stressful. surly there's a way? and that way is change. Adaptation. Striving for what you deserve and want in life. They always say "life is what you make it" so surly, this experience is nothing other than a lesson. A lesson on how I survive. if I don't survive? well at least I'll die trying. Things can only get better if I try. If everything stayed the same forever. Then life would not be life. A series would not be a series when the first episode keeps repeating itself. I cant live life replaying the same scene on repeat. Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. But the change must happen, and the way to make change happen, starts with me. There's always a way. Sometimes you won't get all the answers you need right away. Sometimes you need to search for them. Sometimes you need to sit with it and just ride the wave of uncertainty, while you search for the answer. Sometimes the answer you were hoping for wasn't what you were looking for? but you found many other answers to explore along the way.      

So, with this question in mind; "I wonder if there is a way to cook half decent meals from just the bare minimum" I started my journey to an answer. Researching online in the local library, at the facilities in the rock trust drop in café. I asked people questions, I looked for books and publications. I experimented with the kettle I had provided to me by the B&B. Simple things. like pasta, peas, diced carrot. I knew I wasn't going to be able to make a 5-course meal straight off the bat, but I was starting to develop some kind of system of cooking, till eventually I hit a brick wall. Immediately I thought "ah well, that's it, end of the line" Until one morning when I woke up. I rolled out of bed, I took a shower, burning myself once again on the water, shortly followed by a refreshing blast of cold water. Got dressed. Checked my phone to see if anyone acknowledged my existence. Then when it came to 8.30am, I took my ceramic mug down to the communal dining area. Got myself a coffee. Had the same breakfast I had consumed for the last 6 weeks, which was overcooked baked beans, barely toasted bread with butter, sausages drier than a coos butt going up a hill backwards, and of course, 'knock knock', who's there? a boiled egg that's been on the stove that long it should receive a 'Heritage Award' any minute now. After the sad breakfast I went back to my room with my mug, and sat on the edge of my bed. At first, I was looking at the mounting letters that were adamant in reminding me how shit my life had become, but after a while my gaze would float towards the kettle. I stared at it for a while, went out for a smoke. Stared at it again. Went for another smoke. and yet again stared at it. A thought came to mind. What if a kettle, could be associated with something other than just making a cup of tea, or a pot noodle? What if people looked at it as a heat source as opposed to a water boiling device? these questions sat with me for a while. As I'd lay awake at three in the morning after yet another ambulance appeared outside after a resident had tried to harm, their self in some way. I pondered and questioned the potential of such a well-known kitchen appliance.   

Once I had got the money I was due from my failed apprenticeship, I wandered into one of the local supermarkets at the Kirkgate. I went to grab yet another disappointing array of instant meals and made my way to the checkout. But something caught my eye. it was nothing new, or special. a majority of men have at least one sitting in a work van, or in a dusty cupboard somewhere. A flask. Yet another thing associated with hot beverages. I looked at the label. 'Keeps hot or cold drink insulated for over 24 hrs'. I couldn't really afford it, but I bought one. curious as to wither it could help me with an answer to the question I had been pondering.  

it would turn out that the £20.00 flask would go a long way and was the best investment I could have made for myself. As I would later start making pasta in the flask, mixing it with tinned tomatoes I had heated up in a microwavable bag in the kettle. Mixing it with basic herbs and spices and your bog-standard seasonings, I was able to make myself a tasty and affordable meal without a kitchen. The light bulb moment. The answer I had been waiting for.    

Question: "Is there is a way to cook half decent meals from just the bare minimum?" 

Answer: "Not as of yet, but I am going to write a cook book, and it’s only going to be meals exclusive to cooking with a kettle. so soon there will be a solution”  

and with that my journey began.  

Chef Fiona Donaldson from Prep Table and who worked regularly at Rock Trust helped me when I lost my confidence as a chef. She took me under her wing and showed me what I can do with the right guidance. Fiona had helped me get the project going in the right direction. Fiona was my mentor for the project, business partner before we went our separate ways.    

Kettle Chef was created initially as a social enterprise with the main objective to provide a cook book as a resource which will benefit the homeless in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland living in temporary accommodation, B&B’s, as well as for those living on a low income or who have just moved into their first home. Kettle Chefs vision nowadays however, is too be established as sole trader, and for myself to self-publish the book and sell to the outdoor industries, Organisations and charity's and the general public. Proceeds from that goes straight back into the business which will fund workshops and starter packs for the community. The end vision is to set up 'Kettle Chef' as a business (sole trader or Ltd.) and start other cooking projects so I can have the book supported by the government and to be rolled out to every person placed into temporary accommodation (a similar idea to baby boxes to first time mums)   

Kettle Chef is supported by Rock Trust, YPeople, Street fit Scotland and bestselling budget cook book author Jack Monroe and local Designer, Photographer and Videographer Deborah Mullen.   

As for my situation? it’s a lot better now. I am now living in a council tenancy with my partner and cat which is where the Kettle Chef office is situated. (the cats the mascot!) 

I feel this cook book is going to be a great help to my community. It is my way of giving back to a community that helped me when I needed it the most. The goal is to reach out too many more people, and as much I am passionate about cooking and have worked in many a kitchen, this project strives to empower people and to show them that they have a choice, a voice, a decision. That they are incredible individuals if they want to be, that they can achieve anything they want too with a little bit of self-belief, a step out of their comfort zone and a little help and support. As someone who came from sleeping on a blood splattered bed, I feel it’s my duty to help change people’s opinions of homeless issues and the horrendous situations some people have to endure. If I can change people's minds, those people can make a change in other people's life’s and for many other people in years to come.   

As a previous member of the NHS Youth panel, I would speak on the behalf of the homeless, people on low income and the working class. I'd bring their concerns about our health service to the table and would fight for what they would want to see change. 

One issue in particular I would always have in the forefront of my mind was NHS services and the issue of people with no home address being able to register for a GP Practice. I knew this all too well back when I was unable to register at my local practice for the same reason. Instead, I had to register with the Edinburgh Access Point. Now I cant complain about the practitioners and nurses who worked there. they were very well versed and experienced in their line of work which I still admire to this day, but the idea that people who were homeless were segregated from the general public was a disgrace. You would have to show up at the door of the practice at a specific time and people would fight and scrabble over each other trying to get a place in the que, because the practice would only take the first 10 patients. Appointments could only be made in exceptional circumstances and on entering the practice it was like being admitted to a prison block. All doors were locked except the toilets. The wall paper and paint was well overdue on a makeover. The seats where stuffed and dirty, and the atmosphere between patient and reception team was horrible. They were like wardens. sitting, staring, waiting to catch someone snorting a line of coke. To you this probably sounds exaggerated, or made up, but this is what i seen with my own eyes. it's the reality. its inhuman and an absolute disgrace. It needs to be addressed. After some years I have seen improvements in GP registrations. Patients are allowed to put down a supporting organisations name as opposed to an actual address to a property. though there's still that element of segregation and still room for improvement. I might not be a doctor or nurse myself. But I am a person who knows about basic nutrition. Without regular 3 meals a day, and meals that are balanced with the right number of calories or carbohydrates and vitamins. The body and mind do not function as normal. But it's not just about that alone. 

Food is culture, and culture is food. Food brings people together, it's a basic human need. Not just biologically, but socially. Food brings a since of belonging, in some respects an identity. Everyone's pallets are different. Food is memories, like when your mother would cook a certain meal, or when it was the summer holidays and you would go to the same seaside town with the same fish and chip shop. Food is a memory. Think of your favourite food now as your reading this. Can you taste it?  

This is why I put so much energy into my projects and work. To me, this isn’t about food. well yes food is the tool I use to get people inspired but to me this is about social change, awareness of what is really going on in our society. To me, this is about making a difference, about making voices heard, about moving forward and enforcing the idea of positive social change within community's and encouraging others to stand strong together and make their opinions matter, their actions put into action and their voices heard loud and clear.  

This project closed unsuccessfully on 22nd June 2022