Tasty Grub on Student Budget at Glasgow Freshers' Festival

Young chef Claire Gardner will relive her own student days by cooking up a variety of affordable, tasty and healthy dishes at this week’s Freshers’ Festival to be held in Glasgow’s George Square.

Rising star Claire (25), an award-winning chef from the Hilton Glasgow, will join the Food Standards Agency at the festival to demonstrate how student fare needn’t be all pot noodles and beans on toast.

Students will see Claire, from Glasgow, preparing and cooking a feast of delicious dishes with an international flavour, including Spanish omelette, Irish potato and bean soup, Moroccan couscous and, of course, the student classic that is Spaghetti Bolognese.

All the dishes have been chosen for their affordability, nutritious content and ease of preparation, and are designed to appeal to students who may be cooking for themselves for the very first time.

As well as showing how easy it is to cook up tasty grub, Claire will be dishing useful hints and tips on how to eat healthily and, importantly, how to avoid food poisoning by observing basic food safety rules.

Visitors to the Food Standards Agency in Scotland stand will also be able to taste the results at the end of each demonstration, which will take place at regular intervals throughout the two-day festival which takes place in George Square on 29th-30th September.

Charles Milne, director, Food Standards Agency in Scotland, said: "This is the Agency’s first-ever visit to a fresher festival and we are delighted to have the opportunity to engage with students in Scotland, and talk directly about issues that matter to them.

"This is an important life event for them, as many of them will be leaving home for the first time and experiencing freedom that they’ve never had before.

"We’re here to advise them on how to feed themselves properly, and to warn them of the dangers of poor food hygiene and provide helpful advice so they can avoid food poisoning when preparing food.

"I hope the young adults coming along to this event will be able to learn how easy it can be to eat a balanced diet and follow good food hygiene practices while still enjoying the many challenges of student life."

A handy recipe book featuring of all Claire’s dishes will be available to take away, along with a variety of goodies and useful information from the Food Standards Agency.

Claire started her culinary career at Michael Caines at Abode, Glasgow before moving to the Hilton Glasgow where she is now chef de partie.

She won a bronze medal at the Scottish Culinary Championships at ScotHot 2009, was a finalist in the Young Scottish Seafood Chef of the Year 2009 and, earlier this year, achieved a merit certificate at ScotHot 2011.

Claire  is a member of the Federation of Chefs Scotland.

Find out more about the Scotcampus Freshers' Festival, which this year also incorporates a two-day event in Aberdeen.

More healthy eating news from Scotland.