Mary-Anne’s love for cooking came from her mother. Having spent hours in the family kitchen as a teenager she went on to teach French Cooking. Recently Mary-Anne has been taking part in the Community Kitchen, part of the WISE Personal Helpers and Mentors Program (PHaMs), at the Balla Balla Centre in Cranbourne. There she is learning to prepare nutritional food on a budget. “It was a bit of a shock,’ she says laughing. “I’m used to Cordon Bleu, which is so expensive and terribly fattening, with lots of butter and salt.”

Nevertheless Mary-Anne has embraced the new food and every week she and her friends in the PHaMs class prepare meals that read like the menu in a Melbourne café: pide, gourmet pizza, cous cous and today, chicken skewers in yoghurt. Everyone learns almost incidentally as they cook together; about food myths, seasonal fruit and veges and reading between the lines on food labels.

Clearly enjoying the social experience as much as the cooking, Mary-Anne says, “I get out of the house and make new friends and the camaraderie of doing things together is great.” Having been inspired by her mum, she is now hoping to do the same with her own family. Mary-Anne shows off her new recipes by cooking dinner for her daughter and granddaughter every week.

This story has been taken from WISE's 2009 Annual Review calendar. If you would like a copy of the calendar, please contact the Public Relations team on 03 8329 8800.