In 2020, when London was navigating through the first lockdown, many vulnerable school children were stuck at home due to closed schools. Many of these children relied on free school meals provided by their councils. Eventually, the government approved weekly £15 vouchers for students who needed help, but £15 doesn’t carry very far with kids and teens who haven’t yet learned how to budget for meals.

As a response, Bite Back 2030 commissioned a cookbook, providing weekly lunch meal plans that maximise the £15 vouchers. Many of the meals serve more than 2 portions, and are nutritionally balanced and satisfying, as well as easy to make and made with simple, easily-accessible ingredients.

The original incarnation of the book was called Cook with Jack, with help from Jack Deane of the Jamie Oliver Cookery School. Jack filmed tutorials for each of the 30 recipes, which were then hyperlinked in the PDF recipe pages, so readers could follow along with the recipe and an instructional video when making the meals.

In 2021, the PDF was redesigned into a print book, which was distributed for free to 12,000 students in Middlesborough council, to help with their half-term provision.

My work on the book included art direction from the outset, where I worked with Ella Miller on photography, as well as Jamie’s food styling team to achieve a fresh and approachable visual identity. From there I designed the layout, provided retouching and image production for print, illustration, and the cover design.

This project was truly a passion piece for a cause I believe strongly in, and I’m very proud with the end result and its distribution to those who were most vulnerable in the lockdowns.