Cubs from the 20th Todmorden scout group have earned a badge designed and developed by leader Jon Sayer and the team at Incredible Edible Todmorden.
The Grow It, Cook It, Eat It badge is awarded locally by permission of thre area’s scout district commissioner, and having pioneered its components, Jon is hiopeful it will be taken up at county level in West Yorkshire en route to becoming a recognised national badge to be earned by members of the movement.
The first Todmorden youngsters were awarded with their badge at the end of February.
He worked with IET’s Mary Clear and food enabler Sally Darlington to develop the badge, and as they worked towards it some of the cubs even found themselves being filmed for German television when programme makers from that country came to town to feature IET.
It utilises some existing scouting skills, such as cooking, as well as introducing new concepts to the young people.
“The badge aims to raise awareness of where our food comes from, that it’s not just from a supermarket shelf, and about planting it, nurturing it, cooking it and eating it. They started working towards the badge about this time last year as it is the time for planting, with the bulk of the work being done between Easter and harvest time last October and November,” he said.
To earn Grow It, Cook It, Eat It badges, the first stage of the three-point challenge was for the cubs to plant, care for and harvest food crops in their own IET growing bed outside Todmorden Police station, over a six month period. They visited local rare breed pig farm Porcus, learning how to rear pigs for food and helped make sausages with farmer and co-owner Dan Brown.
Secondly, they planned a menu with the food the had grown and made and finally they cooked it for a panel of judges made up of the people who had helped along the way.
Estelle Brown of IET said: “The cubs learnt a huge amount in these six months, getting a great insight into where our food comes from and the effort it takes to produce it. They become stars of when German TV news came to Todmorden to film and also discovered why forward planning was so important because the only ingredients they could use for their final meals were what they had been involved in making!
“A massive thanks to everyone who helped the 20th Todmorden Cubs grow it, cook it and, most importantly, eat it!”
If any cub group would like more information on running their own Grow It, Cook It, Eat It challenge, contact Jon Sayer at Jonsayer22@btinternet.com. For Cub groups in West Yorkshire, there are a small number of special Grow It, Cook Tt, Eat It badges available free of charge.