SOME OF the city's most vulnerable residents are being taught to cook on a budget with help from a top chef.

Derek Marshall, owner and cook at city eatery Gamba, is showing men from the Glasgow City Mission how to prepare a healthy three-course meal on limited funds.

The mission helps more than 150 homeless and vulnerable people every day, not only by providing food but also by putting on classes and giving support to find housing and jobs.

More than a dozen staff, volunteers and service users joined a cookery workshop where they learned how to fillet a fish, prepare vegetables and make a selection of dishes.

Businessman Derek volunteered to get involved with the charity after reading the Evening Times coverage of the mission's donation drive at Glasgow Central Station.

It comes as the Evening Times Food for Thought campaign, which aims to ensure no one in the city goes hungry, launched last week.

The 46-year-old hopes that other restaurants will also donate food, teaching classes or provide job opportunities to the people who visit the centre.

Derek said: "I wanted to lend my support and encourage more restaura-teurs to get on board.

"There's a lot of food waste in restaurants and it would be ideal if other places also supported charities like this, maybe even helped some of the guys get jobs as kitchen porters or similar.

"I wanted to demonstrate how to prepare food including filleting the fish, and the cooking process involved.

"The guys been brilliant, quite keen to learn and helpful.

"Some people were hesitant to start but they have really got on board."

James Kerr, 52, has been visiting the mission since 1997 and said it changed his life after he became homeless.

James, who now has a flat in the city centre, lives on a food budget of between £30 and £40 a month and the classes help him to make meals that he can afford.

He said: "I've been homeless twice and the mission has helped me so much.

"They do this every week and I've been unemployed for about four weeks now so I've been coming along to learn about cooking.

"It helps me to learn how to cook meals from scratch because I usually make things from tins and frozen food. Processed food is not that great and I appreciate meals more if I make them myself."

Des, 47, also attends the weekly cookery classes.

He said: "I have been coming here for years, and the cookery is great experience, particularly at home.

"I cook for my partner - curries, macaroni cheese and things - and it helps me to learn new skills.

"I like working with other people and with a trained chef too, and I want to get started in the food industry."

During the two-hour session, the men prepared a starter of spiced sweet potato and coconut soup, followed by smoked haddock and halibut with potatoes, peas and a cream sauce, and a bakewell tart and ice-cream for dessert.

Graham Steven, manager at the charity, said: "It's providing a lot of opportunities for our clients to develop some core life skills.

"Many of them are keen to move into their own flat so being able to cook for themselves is important, but also being able to cook healthily and on a budget as well, makes their limited income go further.

IT also helps them have structure because people can sit down, to three square meals a day, and having that structure can have a big impact."

The classes also help to build the confidence and self esteem of the hundreds of men who use the centre every week.

Graham said: "Cooking not only helps them learn a new skill but they begin to see that they can do it; they can do something worthwhile and other people can enjoy it.

"The ripple effect can be quite significant."

hannah.rodger@ eveningtimes.co.uk