I make my food at the Pulp Friction Kitchen. Pulp Friction gives opportunities to young people with learning disabilities. Providing them with on the job training and skills in a working commercial kitchen.
I first got involved with Pulp Friction around 2014. I don’t even remember how I met Jill and Jessie, who run Pulp Friction, but I just know I have loved being a part of what they do from first meeting them. Back then I was running a different food business, called Gluten Free Food Nottingham (catchy, I know!). Jill and Jessie were running their business, using pedal powered smoothie bikes.
I used to run stalls selling gluten-free cakes and treats, and if I had left-overs I would stand outside a chip shop that had a gluten free night on a Monday and sell my cakes off. Jill asked if I would like to give some of her team members work experience so a couple of her group used to come and join me. Selling off cakes (and eating chips) for a few hours on a Monday evening.
I have been involved with Pulp Friction on and off since then.
Now, as well as running the Smoothie Bikes they operate the kitchen at the Nottingham Fire & Rescue Head Quarters. Running a commercial kitchen, cooking for firefighters and the organisational staff, plus catering for events. The members of Pulp Friction gain so much from the experience and their confidence grows and grows.
The kitchen receives food from Fare Share - An organisation which takes food from supermarkets that would otherwise have been thrown away and distributes it to registered organisations - The thing is you never know quite what you’re going to get!!
They also ran the kitchen at the Fire Service Training Centre, where newbie firefighters go to train and the old hats revive their own skills. For a period of time I covered the kitchen there for several days a week, meal planning and cooking fresh tasty food each day. I also stepped in time to time and helped at HQ, working with the team when they were short-staffed.
Fast-forward a year and I had decided to set up Dosa Love, with nowhere to cook, I turned to Jill to ask if I could borrow a bit of kitchen space for a day or so whilst I found somewhere else. To which she instantly replied that I could use it as and when I needed it!
Whilst I’m there I muck in and do my bit with the team, and they also help me. Many of the members come and give me a hand with the food prep and we have so much fun in the process.
It genuinely is one of my very favourite places. It doesn’t matter how you feel at the start of the day. If you’re feeling a bit down, it will soon give way to belly laughs and lots of fun. It’s pretty darn hard to feel glum in that place.
Jill Carter and her daughter Jessie are a constant inspiration with the work that they do, as are every member of the Pulp Friction team, and the staff!
I am looking forward to the day when I have my own premises and can take on Pulp Friction members as my own paid staff!
If you are interested in finding out more about what Pulp Friction do, please take a look here. https://pulpfrictionsmoothies.org.uk/
Thank-you, Jill and the team, for being such huge supporters of my work and making my life so much better in the process! x
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