I am so happy to introduce Ryan Riley to the team here at The Sourdough School. We have actually been working together for several years. Day-to-day Ryan runs an incredible initiative called Life Kitchen – a not for profit organisation that helps people living with cancer to revive the joy of taste and flavour in their food.
A common side effect of cancer treatment, that a lot of people don’t talk about, is the loss of ability to taste food in the way they did before treatment began. Then of course, come the other side effects, the loss of appetite, nausea and all of the nutritional complications that can occur alongside those side effects. Ryan and Life Kitchen create recipes and teach free cookery classes to people living with cancer and experiencing the side effects of cancer treatment, and focus on helping people to enjoy food again.
So Ryan often is on hand to help me to understand how best to apply the principles of texture and flavour that is the basis of all his work. Ryan’s classes focus on their 5 core principles of taste & flavour – umami, smell, stimulating the trigeminal nerve, texture and layering flavour. The main aim of the Life Kitchen classes are to teach people how to create the most delicious recipes that focus on delivering intense and powerful flavours, and making vibrant and visually gorgeous food – so we get to create sourdough that people living with cancer will enjoy eating. What I particularly love is that these sourdough loaves are both joyful to bake and eat, and are more nourishing at a time when it matters most.
Ryan is an award-winning cook and food writer and his first book ‘Life Kitchen: Recipes to revive the joy of taste & flavour’ is due to be launched on 5th March 2020. Ryan is passionate about making no-fuss food that makes people feel good.
Life Kitchen teaches about foods that are vibrant and diverse, which ties in so beautifully with the work we do here at the school surrounding the gut microbiome. When people are living with cancer, it’s such an important time for them to be mindful of what they are putting into their bodies and that’s why I’ve chosen to bring Ryan into the team – so we can share and create wonderful, helpful and delicious recipes for people living with cancer, their family and friends who may be caring for them, and also for anyone who loves to cook and eat as much as we do. These are the first recipes we have collaborated on – a savoury Feta, Miso & Mushroom focaccia with honey and rosemary, and a sweet Blackberry, Fennel & Pistachio focaccia.
Love Bake Nourish Share.
You can find Life Kitchen on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
Chocolate starter – Microbial Analysis
Hello Vanessa,
Love following your journey through sourdough and bread! If I had your lovely sourdough starter sent to me I would bake a loaf for my infant twins who adore homemade bread. I can’t bake fast enough for them, as they love it so much. They’ve had my sourdough since they were weaned, and I’m so proud.
Love what you do. Keep it up!
This is truly amazing guys. Thanks for doing this!
I would like to share the bread I will make with the free sourdough starter with my French grandma x, she lives in France and will fly the bread when I go and visit!
Hi Vanesa
I admire you and tour work ao much, because of what I read from your site, sourdough bread appealed to me because it is such a scientific approach the way you bring it forward.
If i am in the group of 100 person to get a free starter, i will share my baked bread with my kindergarden teacher Maritza who has survived lymphoma cancer. She has been forbidden by her dr. To eat bread. Iwould.like to bake a loaf from the recipe and give it to her and explain how bread is suppose to nourish
Thank you
Zaida
ARUBA
Hi Vanessa I would like a starter from you so I could share the sourdough bread I make from a recipe by yourself and Ryan , with a friend who has recently finished chemotherapy.
Regards
Jamie Doherty