The Little School Of Improbable Cooking is a long running programme created by B arts that brings together cooking, performance and creative writing to provide a high-quality participative arts experience for children, families and young people in some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of Stoke-on-Trent.

The activities are based on the premise of a magical cooking school run by improbable chefs. The chefs find themselves facing fantastical challenges that can only be solved by working together to create magical meals and accompanying writing and performances.

Since 2016 the children of Stoke-On-Trent have helped the school enter (and win) pirate Masterchef—cannon ball spaghetti, treasure map pizza and swag bag pastries; lure an escaped dragon back by making fiery dragon pies, and sweet dough dragon eggs; saved the universe from being vaporised by catering for an epic alien wedding and most recently helped an ocean creature and a tree spirit, create a climate conscious feast for ‘Cook 26’. In 2020 they even featured on BBC 2s The Great British Menu.

The project has been designed to use imaginative play to give children and their families new ways to eat well and design recipes that enable even our youngest participants to take the lead on preparing recipes. During workshops we explore different ingredients and their qualities with each child making their own personalised version of the dishes.

Participants are also invited to flex their imaginative muscles working with writers and poets from across the West Midlands—whether that’s concocting magical recipes, spells to cast on a dragon or taking part in rap battles.

The Little School of Improbable Cooking runs across the summer holidays and usually ties in with the Summer Reading Challenge. We also run bespoke workshops and school/group visits throughout the year. These can planned around a particular topic/set of objectives/curriculum outcome. To enquire about bespoke offers please contact us at info@b-arts.org.uk

Since 2016 we have worked with over 2000 different children and young people aged 2-14 across the summer holiday programme alone.

The project is supported by BBC Children in Need and Arts Council England and is delivered in partnership with Stoke-On-Trent Libraries and Writing West Midlands. B arts are a partner organisation of Soil Association: Food For Life.