Photo caption: Matei Baran and his son Armin at the cook-off in Cramlington Learning Village
Over the last few months, local foodservice provider Bidfood in Gateshead has been supporting the development of former MasterChef contestant Matei Baran’s new charity cookbook. The cookery book features healthy recipes for children living with cystic fibrosis, and all the proceeds will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The ‘Big Chef Mini Chef’ cookery book that launched this weekend, was inspired by Matei’s son Armin, who suffers from the life-limiting disease cystic fibrosis, and aims to help support other families and children living with this condition. Over the last few months, Matei has hosted a series of activities to launch his book campaign, all of which Bidfood in Gateshead have supported. These included various cookery demonstrations with students, and an educational cook-off at special needs school, Hopewood Academy, where Bidfood supplied all the food and mini cooking utensils for sessions. Along with this, Bidfood supplied the wholesale foods and drink for the Mini Chefs at the book launch this weekend, and during Christmas time, they bought all the gifts for the Mini Chefs at an exclusive breakfast with Santa. Talking about this great cause, Jane Stewart, General Manager at Bidfood in Gateshead said: “This is a very important cause that is close to our hearts due to the fact that it supports the needs of families in the North East, and promotes the necessity for good quality food for children. “Matei is a great customer of ours, and we are extremely proud to be supporting him in his journey to help those struggling children out there, and we look forward to a strong future partnership!” As well as being full of delicious and nutritious recipes, the ‘Big Chef Mini Chef’ book encourages families to cook together with their young children, and teaches them simple meals to make. When asked about Bidfood’s support, Matei Baran said: “Thank you so much to Bidfood for all their support over the last few months - it is greatly appreciated! “Thank you for supporting me in my project since its initiation, not only with your emotional support and kind donations, but also for being behind me 100%. “It is great to see big companies like Bidfood supporting local causes, and supporting chefs in the trade.”