The chef feeding Manchester’s most vulnerable families | Mary-Ellen McTague – Manc of the Month September 2021
From cheffing in Michelin starred kitchens to battling food inequality in Greater Manchester, we throw the spotlight on chef Mary-Ellen McTague for September's Manc of the Month feature
“It’s not like an anti-wealth thing, just the good stuff has to be for everybody.”
“It’s not fair otherwise,” explains Bury-born chef Mary-Ellen McTague as we sit chatting about her food inequality project, Eat Well MCR, outside her restaurant in Chorlton.
Launched just before the start of the first lockdown, over the past year and a half the project has rallied together chefs from some of the city’s top restaurants and seen over 50,000 meals delivered to vulnerable Mancs in need.
What first began as a meal service for NHS staff soon pivoted to focus on families living in temporary and emergency accommodation – of which there are thousands in Greater Manchester.
The team at @australasia_mcr whipping up a hearty stew for people in need using donations of meat from @aubreyallenbutchers / Image: Eat Well MCR
These families generally have nothing but a kettle and a microwave to cook with, she tells us, meaning that no matter how thrifty they are with their limited budget they’re pretty much stymied from the off.
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Pot noodles, we hear, are a regular feature of many diets as a result.
“It’s really difficult to eat even remotely well even if you’re a really skilled cook and you’re very thrifty and you’re really creative,” explains McTague, hitting on one of the key arguments given by those who seek to lay blame at the door of the individual.
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“Even if you can do alright on the budget, you’ve got you’ve got no means for cooking anyway you know so it’s just such a barrier to being able to eat well.”
A chef of twenty years’ experience, she’s well qualified to comment – having worked at some of the country’s top restaurants, cheffing for the likes of Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck and Lancashire restaurateur Paul Heathcote before going on to open her own restaurants, first Aumbry and then The Creameries.
She also appeared, not once but twice, on the BBC2 show Great British Menu – reaching the North West finals both years, before going on to write a food column for The Guardian.
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Having seen both sides of the coin, she knows all too well that there is a huge disconnect between the experience of restaurant customers and homeless families attempting to manage on minimal benefits and charitable donations.
For such families living on the bread line, choice is a luxury they can literally not afford.
“There are all sorts of food deserts in and around Manchester and other cities where what’s available to buy locally is really limited,” explains McTague.
“To have the choice to eat organic vegetables if you want to, the choice to occasionally not to have to cook your own tea, these are all choices that we just totally take for granted but just aren’t part of lots of people’s lives.”
“I don’t really think twice about ordering a takeaway but you know loads of people just wouldn’t, couldn’t consider it,” she says, before telling us about a takeaway night they run in partnership with a local food bank where they link up with different restaurants to give service users the choice to order what they want.
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“It’s a big event and people get dressed up for it,” she tells us.
“It might be Chinese or it might be pizza or it might be fish and chips, whatever it is it’s nice, good takeaway food and the families choose what they want to have and then they come in on the Wednesday and pick it up.”
Image: Eat Well MCR
The issue of food poverty has been a subject of discussion for more than a decade now as food bank use has risen astronomically in the UK, with the number of Trussel Trust parcels delivered rising from the thousands into the millions since 2010.
Still, the plight of families is very much at the forefront of people’s minds right now – especially as many brace themselves for the removal of the weekly £20 Universal Credit uplift on 6 October and rising fuel prices that will lead swathes to have to make the choice between heating and eating this winter.
“I don’t know if you saw the Jack Munroe tweet the other day but she took a picture of what £20 worth of food looks like and it was just heartbreaking.”
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“I mean, it’s like, you could feed your family for a few days – it’s like, for people making these decisions, £20 is just no big deal to them – they will never be in a situation where £20 makes the difference between eating and not eating.”
Again – this is what £20 looks like in groceries. What newsreaders should show every time they mention ‘the cut to Universal Credit’. The FSM campaign proved that raising our voices CAN make the Government u-turn on brutally cruel policies. So please, act now to #KeepTheLifelinepic.twitter.com/FVvBUitq07
Going into winter, Mary-Ellen tells us that one of the key messages Eat Well wants to get out is that they need more restaurants to work with them to help meet the growing demand food nutritious, quality meals over the coming months.
“We want to grow. We need more people cooking for us […] we need more chefs and restaurants to get involved.
“We make it as easy as possible for people, we deliver the ingredients, we then collect the meals and we distribute them, we do all the difficult stuff, we just need people to give up a few hours and just like turn what we bring them into something nice and tasty.”.
“Like, that’s not nothing – it’s a lot out of kitchen’s are busy and it’s but if someone feels that they can manage ten meals once every three weeks great, we’ll work with that, if someone else thinks they can do fifty a week, perfect.
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Chefs at Hawksmoor Manchester with 50 portions of Roasted Red Pepper and Lamb Ragu, ready to go out to homeless Manchester families / Image: Eat Well MCR
“It’s just about having lots and lots of people doing the little bit they can manage.”
A truly inspirational Mancunian chef, what Mary Ellen is doing with her partners at Eat Well MCR is making the world of healthy and nutritious, restaurant-grade meals available to everyone in Manchester – not just those with disposable income.
Even though she didn’t take home the Chef of the Year gong at the Manchester Food and Drink Awards this year, she’s certainly a winner in our eyes – having reimagined the role of restaurants and chefs in one of the most challenging years hospitality has ever had, and what’s more, reimagining it for the greater good of the city’s most vulnerable.
Anyone in the industry who may be able to help can contact Mary-Ellen through twitter, @MaryEllenMcT or reach out to Eat Well MCR via their Give Support page.
Feature image- Mary Ellen McTague
News
Four rare African ducklings have been hatched at Chester Zoo for the very first time
Danny Jones
More conversation celebration down the road at Chester Zoo, as the award-winning wildlife park has welcomed four African ducklings who belong to a rare breed.
As is so often the case with the work they do all year-round, their arrival could help signal the species’ survival in the long run, whose status was sadly upgraded from vulnerable to endangered on the official IUCN Red List.
The particular type of fowl we’re referring to is the Maccao duck, a stiff-tailed bird that typically belongs to the fresh and brackish inland waters of Eastern and Southern Africa.
Medium-sized, chunky, with big bills and subtle striping around their heads, they’re gorgeous creatures as is, but especially so as ducklings…
If you didn’t say ‘awww’ out loud, then you’re just lying.
As the Zoo itself put it, they are “rare, fluffy and VERY cute.” Celebrating what is “a breeding breakthrough for one of Africa’s rarest ducks […] so these little guys are kind of a big deal.”
These little delightful little duckies are known for diving down to the bottom of lakes and riverbeds to forage for aquatic invertebrates and plants; in fact, given the choice, they tend to prefer going underwater over flying pretty much full-stop.
As a resident species that doesn’t migrate like many other birds, they are native to nations like Namibia, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. They’re identifiable by their dark black heads, blue bills (among the males, at least) and presence within the wetlands.
However, their estimated numbers continue to drop, and unfortunately, just 14 of their kind currently remain in Kenya and only 100 in Tanzania, with fewer than 5,000 believed to be left across the entire African continent.
Not only is this the first time the species has ever been successfully bred by bird experts at Chester Zoo, but conservationists hope ducklings will put a spotlight on the threatened species.
Their scientific name is ‘Oxyura maccoa’.Just like human babies, they prone to stuff all over their face.As far as ducklings go, these adorable little African variants are pretty special. (Credit: Supplied)
The zoo’s Head of Birds, Andrew Owen, said of their birth: “As one of just seven zoos in Europe – and 12 zoos globally – that care for Maccoa ducks, these ducklings are very special as they’re the first of their kind to ever hatch here at the zoo – making it a really historic moment for our team,
“This success gives a real boost to the future of the species, and these vital new additions will contribute to the safety-net population in zoos. These birds are facing rapid decline in the wild, so every hatchling really does count.
“To see them now out on the water inside our new Heart of Africa habitat, which is dedicated to helping Africa’s most threatened species thrive, makes this milestone even more special.”
Nothing short of brilliant news, we’re sure you’ll agree; better still, in addition to the crucially charitable and conversation-based tourist attraction being named one of England’s most popular destinations once again, but these are the only rare birds welcome by the zookeepers this month.
Vogue’s immersive ‘Inventing the Runway’ show is coming to Manchester
Thomas Melia
A Vogue immersive show titled ‘Inventing the Runway’ is coming to Manchester, and it’s even co-created by Anna Wintour herself.
Ever fancied learning more about the fashion world? Well, now’s your chance to hear everything you need to know from global fashion leaders and lifestyle magazine Vogue.
The Anna Wintour-approved immersive experience comes alongside the announcement of Factory International‘s Winter lineup, which features another new event all about voyaging to the moon.
This Vogue-fronted experience will incorporate interviews, visual media and more to help attendees visualise fashion shows of the past, present and future.
As well as understanding how fashion shows became the pinnacle of a designer’s vision, this runway-themed display also includes looking back at iconic moments of fashion and pop culture.
‘Inventing the Runway’ by Vogue is focusing on outfits worn by models and A-listers alike, with narration from the one and only Cate Blanchett.
You can expect to see curated pieces by significant creative minds in fashion history like Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and lots more.
Throughout the Vogue experience, as well as coming visually face to face with fashion, you will also hear a soundscape that perfectly reflects this innovative industry with a fusion of classical and pop music.
This fashion exhibition uses the same Lightroom technology behind the impressive David Hockney experience that opened back in December.
Vogue is using this show to honour anyone who has made an impact in the fashion world.The Met Gala has become a staple in everyone’s calendar year in and year out.First Northern Quarter’s Chanel show, now this… Très chic. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/GoodFon)
Anna Wintour, Chief Content Officer, Condé Nast, and Global Editorial Director, Vogue said: “At Vogue, we’ve been lucky enough over the decades to see many incredible runway shows, which have often told the story of fashion as much as the clothes themselves.”
“This Lightroom experience is a wonderful opportunity for a lot more people to experience first-hand the thrill of watching the history of fashion unfold right in front of them.”
You can experience Vogue’s ‘Inventing the Runway’ immersive show from 18 December to 10 January when it visits Aviva Studios this winter.
Find out more information and grab your tickets HERE.