University
of Cumbria is teaming up with 2019 MasterChef champion Irini Tzortzoglou to
offer its students an exclusive cookery class series.
‘Uni.Yum’
is a series of six free sessions launching on Wednesday, 27 January 2021.
Irini
will present a 45-minute session every Wednesday at 6pm from the kitchen of her
home in south Cumbria. After the launch, each session will follow a different
theme ranging from cookery basics to nutritional elements such as
carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Via
Microsoft Teams, students will be invited to create dishes in real time with
Irini and join in live and interactive Q&As.
The
scheme aims to help students at University of Cumbria learn to cook satisfying
and nutritious meals for themselves and others, on a budget and using basic
ingredients and equipment. They will gain valuable culinary skills and
knowledge, not only helping break the time spent at home during lockdown but
also preparing them for life beyond graduation.
Harnessing
the power food has in bringing people together, the cookery series will also be
a creative outlet to support students’ wellbeing.
Not
only will they be able to cook with Irini, students also have the option to
watch the shows with those within their households at a time when many are
correctly following government’s ‘Stay at Home’ messages and are not yet back
in their usual university halls or accommodation.
Crete-born
Irini said: “I am thrilled to be sharing with students some of my cooking
knowledge, tips and tricks. These are no ordinary cookery classes as Uni.Yum
will include advice on shopping, cooking and eating mindfully, aiming for
a healthy and happy time on campus and beyond while increasing confidence and
creativity.
“Uni.Yum
is also going to break up time studying and being at home during lockdown.
Eating food is often also a shared experience and I hope this will give University
of Cumbria students across the country and beyond a chance to cook dishes for
loved ones and others where that is possible.”
Irini
lives near Cartmel in south Cumbria, a food lover’s haven renowned for its
award-winning restaurants and eateries and its world-famous culinary figures.
She published her first book, ‘Under the Olive Tree’, in the summer of 2020 and
is currently writing her second.
She
added: “I’m also very excited to be able to continue to offer knowledge in the
form of short videos, photographs and recipes through the dedicated Instagram
feed Uni.Yum where students will be also invited to post and put questions to
me whenever they need to be supported or inspired.
Dr
Signy Henderson, Dean for Student Success at University of Cumbria, said: “This
is a challenging time for us all including our students. The social aspects of
university life this year are necessarily different with much more of a focus
on staying in and making the most of the home environment.
“Therefore
it is pleasing to see how Uni.Yum will provide students with a creative outlet
to try something that’s different and fun, expanding their knowledge about
balanced eating and how to use good, simple ingredients to nourish themselves
and perhaps share within their household.
“Uni.Yum
offers the flexibility for students to join the cooking sessions with Irini
live or to watch the demonstrations and cook later, whatever works for them.”
Molly
McConnell, welfare officer at University of Cumbria Students’ Union, said: “I
am delighted to have been able to assist Irini and the university on the
Uni.Yum project, especially having had my own challenges with meal times during
my degree and my recent healthy eating campaign halted by the pandemic.
“The
project also aligns well with the Students' Union's focus for the beginning of
this semester: we're working to reignite the motivation and passion in our
student body as they push through their assessments and, for many of them,
continue on as key workers alongside their studies.
“Irini's
passion and energy has been hugely refreshing and I know it will be an
incredibly inspiring experience for the students that engage with the sessions.
I can really see the potential therapeutic value for our students too,
particularly those struggling to switch off in the evenings and on again in the
mornings.”
Follow
@Uni.Yum on Instagram and the hashtag #Yumbria across social media platforms.
Irini
Tzortzoglou – Chef, Food Writer, Tutorials, Motivational Speaking
- 2019 UK MasterChef Champion
- July 2019 – culinary retreat at
5 star hotel, Crete
- October 2019 – Women Of The
Year awards lunch
- Instagram lives – cooking with
other chefs, including Michelin (5 star) Simon Rogan and others
- Cooking videos for Kids On The Green
(Grenfell Tower related charity) and Royal Voluntary Service
- July 2020 - UNDER THE OLIVE
TREE (recipes from my Greek kitchen) was published by
Headline. Currently writing the second cookbook to be published in
the Spring of 2022
- Recipe development for Dodoni
UK (producer of feta cheese)
- Recipe development for Tsantali
wines
- UNI.YUM – cooking and nutrition
classes delivered to Cumbria University students
- Culinary retreats in Crete with
Simpson Travel
- Regular commentary on BBC Radio
Cumbria
- Featured in The Times, Hello
Magazine and many others
Passionate about the
culture of her homeland, where the food heritage goes back thousands of years
to Minoan times, Irini (who was born in Crete and herself benefitted from
homegrown, simple and often wild ingredients) is a fervent advocate of growing
our own foods and buying locally wherever practical. She is also a keen
supporter of growers and breeders who engage in ethical and responsible
practices and use foodstuffs offered freely in the local countryside. Irini
is herself a keen forager.
Convinced, like many,
that our planet’s resources are fast being exhausted, Irini likes to inform and
to inspire others to adopt a more caring attitude to the environment through
the use of simple, seasonal or fresh ingredients wherever possible. She
has developed and is now delivering food classes to university students with
the purpose of helping them plan and organise their shopping and cooking
activities so as to ensure nutritional, balanced, flavoursome and beautiful dishes
involving little waste in their preparation and consumption.
Being a people person
(her career in banking was always centred on
customer facing
roles) Irini loves imparting her passion and knowledge by giving cooking
classes and holding culinary retreats in the UK, Greece or other countries
which she feels an affinity with. Her paternal grandparents came from
Asia Minor, she feels a strong connection to Italy and generally loves the food
of the whole Mediterranean region. The first book she bought on moving to the
UK in 1980 was about Moroccan cuisine.
As a trained olive
oil sommelier, Irini is also passionate about the health and culinary benefits
of extra virgin olive oils and is invited to speak and hold tastings on this
fundamental pillar of the Mediterranean Diet.
Irini also enjoys and
is often engaged to design recipes using ingredients that she knows, uses
herself or discovers. When in her home island of Crete, Irini enjoys
learning of developments in the local cuisine, goes foraging with family
members and contributes in family or community events where food has centre
stage.
Irini inherited an
artistic and creative nature. Her father played the bouzouki and her
mother enjoyed painting and taught Irini from a young age to knit, crochet and embroider
whilst her grandmother and aunts were great weavers. She studied History of
Art, Architecture and Design at Kingston University and was a legal director
and leading actress for a London based Greek theatre group. Irini brings
her artistic flair to the food she creates as evidenced in the dishes that
wowed the judges on MasterChef, by focussing on putting together flavours and
textures that work perfectly together as well as eye-catching food-styling and
photography for her social media following and print media content.
Over the course of
her life, Irini has attended many self-development and motivational seminars,
has read the works of modern thinkers and practitioners and her experience
while competing at the highest amateur culinary level has provided her with
invaluable lessons that allow her to inspire and empower others. Using
food as a medium, she believes that food preparation – as she experienced
herself growing up in a communal style of cooking and eating – is a great
leveller. This has led her to leading team-building weekends where
company employees (who may feel they have plateaued, uninspired, bored even
disgruntled) can share in the joy of such a basic but also all-pervasive and
time-honoured act of sourcing, preparing and sharing food for ourselves, loved
ones and community.
