At a house in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, teenagers are learning how to put the fresh into freshers’ cuisine.

“Everyone will want to share with us,” says Eleanor Batterham, 18, from Bath, who is going to study at Edinburgh University after her gap year. “We could even start a supper club,” adds Sishy Goodall, 17, from Oxford, who wants to study languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Judging by their salad — mixed leaves, fresh figs, goat’s cheese and crushed walnuts with an orange and fennel seed dressing — served with homemade lamb burgers and chilli marinaded chicken, they will be the toast of first-year kitchens.

The day-long Food for Freshers course, which costs £230, is hosted by Kumud Gandhi of The Cooking Academy. The day starts with an exploration of store-cupboard ingredients. “These are your foundation. Learn what they can do and the rest flows from here,” says Gandhi.

The course is chatty and hands-on. Garden fresh herbs are torn, rubbed, sniffed and nibbled and spices tested for heat. The students learn how to chop an onion, use correct measurements and the health benefits of various ingredients. For example, fennel helps ease indigestion and heart burn, while chilli and ginger can boost poor circulation.

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“Moving away from home and starting college can be a very stressful time,” says Gandhi. “Cooking is a basic life skill not taught at school. The course aims to give teenagers the confidence to play around with good food.”

The students learn step-by-step how to prepare eight simple, nutritionally balanced recipes (including mixed bean chilli con carne, poached salmon, fish pie and a freshers’ flu remedy).

Initially, they all profess that they love the idea of cooking but lack practical experience. “I don’t have the confidence to cook like mum,” says Batterham. Goodall confesses to a ketchup addiction (“even with risotto”) and reckons that if she does not have fresh food, she will be lethargic and sleep through most of university.

Gandhi says that “the kitchen cupboard promises to offer more effective solutions to our health problems than the medicine cabinet”. She includes oily fish, spinach, nuts, sunflower seeds, broccoli, honey and fruits high in antioxidants on her list of performance enhancing foods.

Starting the day with a healthy breakfast and drinking lots of water, Gandhi adds, are two of the most important dietary habits to form early on.

timesonline.co.uk/recipes

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