Until a few weeks ago, Amina admits, she used to add a tablespoon-and-a-half of salt to the curries she prepared for her family, and had no idea of the quantity of oil she added. Now she's cut the salt to nearly zero and keeps a close eye on fat content.
No one coerced the mother of three to make changes to her traditional Indian recipes for saag aloo and dhal. She simply became aware of her own power to improve the health of her entire family by the way she cooks for them, through attending the Yummy Mummies (YM) scheme based in Withington, south Manchester. "At first, I didn't think the food tasted as nice," says Amina (not her realname). "But now I am used to it, and I know it's good for my family."
Yummy Mummies (YM), which recently won a Royal College of Midwives' award, is a project set up by community midwife Sue McAuliffe and former food technology teacher Alison Lloyd to raise awareness to help vulnerable women who are either pregnant or have young children.
Once a week, they join a group of about 10 young women for a two-hour free session consisting of a short talk on some aspect of healthy nutrition, such as increasing dietary fibre or the physical impact of salt or fat on the body. Afterwards they prepare a meal together, then sit down and eat communally.
McAuliffe and Lloyd decided to target mothers attending a children's centre in Old Moat - a deprived and ethnically diverse area with an above-average rate of teenage pregnancies - and launched the YM pilot a year ago, funded by Manchester Food Futures, a partnership between the city council, communities and the private sector. Funding has been renewed for a second year and its running has been taken over by founder member Paula O'Reilly. A parallel session of YM has just been launched in neighbouring Burnage, and another will open soon in Wythenshawe.
Price is always a prime consideration, and the Old Moat group was amazed to learn that soup for 20 people could be made for as little as £2.
"If you can affect women's attitudes while they are pregnant and very open to ideas, you are influencing a whole family," McAuliffe says. "With some of the larger Asian families, that could have an impact on an entire generation."
Through her work, she sees the problems caused by malnourishment in pregnancy and by social isolation. Babies born into low income families are more likely to be premature and of low birth weight. And poorly nourished women experience more health problems both before and after giving birth.
In addition to the health benefits they receive, many women gain much-needed psychological support. Madira Brion, 24, from Guadeloupe, joined YM a year ago when she was heavily pregnant and was living in a hostel after being abandoned by the father of the child. She says: "I have learned how to care for my baby, but best of all I have learned that cooking is fun."
YM has a vegetable garden at Old Moat and there are plans for an organic box scheme with a local food cooperative, and for a YM website with a teaching package to help others set up their own groups.
McAuliffe says : "With a little bit of care, by gaining people's trust and by looking at the heart of the community you can help facilitate changes in their diets, and you can change people's lives."
· Further information on YM from sue@sue74.wanadoo.co.uk
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