An Edgware charity is offering people with learning disabilities the chance to experience the joys of cooking.

Professional chef and Jewish food writer Denise Phillips has teamed up with charity The Larches to offer people with learning disabilities in Barnet a free cookery taster session.

Ms Phillips, who is best known for books including Modern Jewish Cooking with Style, has been teaching cookery to learners at the charity in Rectory Lane since January.

She said: “This is a nice way of teaching my skills to those who are less able. They can enjoy what I’m teaching and learn useful life skills.

“Just because they are not as able as some others, it doesn’t mean they haven’t got a lot to give too – they are good at cooking and enjoy it."

The taster sessions will enable people to find out if they could benefit from cookery classes. Anyone interested can attend on any Tuesday during term time, with no commitment.

Five learners attended Tuesday's session, which was themed around the Jewish festival of Shavuot.

Ms Phillips helped make a range of dairy dishes including a starter of goat’s cheese with chives and pomegranates, mozzarella salad with caramelised pear and Jewish pudding blueberry lokshen kugel.

As well as giving each member of the group a turn preparing and mixing each ingredient, she asked learners to identify spices and herbs like cinnamon and parsley and quizzed them on the ingredients' country of origin.

She said: “Through these cookery sessions these learners are discovering how to read and retain information. I keep asking them how they made something like the goat’s cheese starter and they can tell me.

“They are learning life skills as basic as hand washing and how to eat in a group at a table using cutlery, things which people take for granted.

“We do different recipes from around the world and the learners find out about the ingredients we use and their country of origin. We teach them about the flag and currency of each country.”

One learner cook, Ilana Blumenfeld, said: “I’ve been cooking since school. I really enjoy it. My dream is one day to have my own business in New York. I love these classes because they are preparing me for the future.”

Learner Simon Wakeling said how much he enjoyed eating the food they had cooked.

He added: “I’ve started cooking by myself now. I’m doing stir-fry bubble and squeak.

“This course has taught me a lot of new skills and given me confidence as well.”

The cookery courses run on Tuesdays throughout school term time.

Anyone interested in booking a free taster session can contact Ranu Radia at The Larches on Ranu.Radia@larchestrust.org.uk to arrange a time.