Why Antony? By Jacqui Taylor 4EDEN

by Jacqui Taylor 4EDEN

I expect you’re thinking, why Antony?

Antony was a chap we supported for many years; a lovely man who was fiercely independent, and thrived on doing things for himself. Antony loved food – all food, but actually preparing and cooking the food was difficult due to his dexterity and remembering. Antony passed away in 2020, but his meals have been known as Antony meals for such a long time and so many of those we support buy the meals, we felt it was the right name to continue with. We created a selection of food choices, low in salt and sugar – only using the best quality local ingredients, prepared by the guys who Antony valued as friends and colleagues. As Antony had such a love of food, we made a wide variety of Antony meals, always asking Antony for his approval. Using local suppliers means we keep our food local, it’s made locally in our bakery food prep area in Penrith. We have great staff with good catering backgrounds and knowledge and some very enthusiastic guys – all of whom have additional learning needs, learning disabilities or on the autistic spectrum. All the guys enjoy the challenges of producing the meals, from the washing of the veggies, preparing them for the pot or pan, slicing and dicing, chopping and stirring – and of course, the all-important taste test. The opportunity to link to Cumbria Quality Care to provide Antony meals to their day services Attendees, gives our guys the chance to use their skills to benefit others, and we hope that in time, our guys will serve up and spend time with the clients and share time together. Keeping it local, supporting our local community – it’s what 4EDEN is all about. As our service develops, we plan to expand our range and enable more people to benefit from our great food and to support 4EDEN in providing work placements and in time, employment for local people who just need a chance to prove how fab they are.

Note from the Editor

Many thanks to Jacqui at 4EDEN, for this piece in memory of Antony, keeping that dream alive for the love of food and helping us always remember the character he was. I only knew him for about seven years, but we regularly talked about football and radio. He was such a lovely person, and in the archives of Eden FM, we have a memory stored of Christmas 2018, when I actually interviewed Antony at a Christmas gathering.