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Recipes for disaster, a new kind of cookbook

Recipes for Disaster

Leicester science graduates Gordon Wilkinson (PhD Chemistry 1972) and Brenda Wilkinson (PhD Microbiology 1973) turn cookbook authors. (An edited version first appeared in Graduates Review Spring 2007)

Chemistry graduates at the University of Leicester were often told that their degrees would open the door to a wide range of careers. However, becoming the author of a cookbook never crossed Gordon Wilkinson’s mind when he took his first steps in science writing as editor of the Leicester Chemical Review in 1969. Brenda never saw herself as another Delia Smith - or, for that matter, Gordon as a Jamie Oliver - when she was cooking up broths and classifying bacteria in the MRC Microbial Systematics Unit.

Brenda and Gordon were married while they were students at Leicester. “We’ve been happily married for 37 years and have worked together in our own business ventures for most of that time” says Brenda. The couple set up a science publishing company in 1984 and built an international business providing newsletters and reports about companies that make and sell instruments for chemical and biological analysis. She adds, “We have two sons, Matt (29) is a PhD chemist who works as Editor of an online drug research news service, Tim (26) is an ITC Manager.”

“When we sold our publishing operations in 2000” says Gordon, “it gave us a great opportunity to spend more time doing charity work and the organisation that had impressed us most over the years is the Christian relief and development agency Tearfund.” Based in Teddington, Tearfund works with more than 350 church-based partners on over 550 projects overseas to transform the lives of millions of the world’s poorest people.

Brenda recalls: “During our time in Leicester we became keen environmentalists and founders of the Leicester Environmental Action Group. So in 2004, when Tearfund offered us the chance to take part in a study tour to Honduras where it is supporting an eco-tourism project in the rainforest of La Mosquitia, we couldn’t pack our cases quickly enough. Getting to see how Tearfund’s partner MOPAWI, run by Oswaldo Mungia, was helping indigenous groups work together in sustainable development projects was amazing, but it meant that we spent two weeks eating mostly rice and beans.”

“Or beans and rice… or rice, beans and plantain… and that led us to wonder what kind of staple foods people eat in other poor countries” continues Gordon. “We began a two-year search for recipes from across the globe. We thought that we could use our publishing experience to produce a cookbook that would raise funds for some of the disaster relief and sustainable development projects that we had seen in different countries. Our title – Recipes for Disaster… Relief and Development certainly helped to attract media interest and we’ve been invited to contribute to lots of magazines and do radio interviews.”

Supervising students doing laboratory practical sessions at Leicester has also come in handy. “We’ve been into local primary schools to talk about fair trade and the kinds of food that people eat in other countries… and, we’ve cooked some of the dishes from the recipe book with pupils – things such as empanadas from Argentina, carrot halva from Pakistan and wabul, a coconut and banana smoothie from Honduras… a real favourite with children” notes Brenda.

The book – organised alphabetically from Argentina to Zambia - has more than 40 recipes from 25 of the 70 countries where Tearfund works. “But it’s a recipe book with a difference in that it gives information on each country and then shows how Tearfund is bringing hope to a particular community, such as caring for AIDS orphans in Cambodia, providing lunches for school children in Haiti, or ensuring that craft workers in Peru and Thailand have an outlet for their products and get a fair wage” says Brenda. The book contains 43 recipes that range from Spicy Bolivian Beef to Malawian Cheesecake and Zambian Sweet Potato Puff.

Instead of a disaster, the book has proved to be an amazing success. Selling direct from home, rather than through bookshops that want as much as 45% of the £7 sale price, the Wilkinsons sold 1,000 copies within the first four months of the book becoming available. By September 2006 they had covered all the production costs and they were able to donate £3,000 to Tearfund. They have been making more donations as sales have increased. Gordon admits: “We’ve now sold more than 2,000 copies and are over a third of the way to our target of raising £25,000 for Tearfund’s work in Africa, the Americas and Asia … and every sale of just one copy helps us get that little bit closer.”

To purchase a copy of the book, contact the Wilkinsons at their website on: www.recipesfordisaster.org, by email at recipes@felbridge.com or by sending a cheque for £7.00 to B. Wilkinson at PO Box 78, East Grinstead RH19 2YW. At least £6 of each sale goes to Tearfund. In exchange for a donation to Tearfund you can download individual recipes from the website.

Dates and Selected career activities

1966 to 1972/3 - BSc and PhD students at University of Leicester

1972/3 to 1975 - University Research Fellow, then Editor-in-chief at STA, London (GW); Postdoctoral Researcher at Kings College Hospital (BW)

1975 to 1980 - Jointly founded Liquid Crystal Abstracts; Technical Writer/Communications Manager at Rentokil (GW); Biology Teacher (BW)

1980 to 1984 - Jointly established Infocom, a chemical industry consultancy

1984 to 2000 - Published Analytical Instrument Industry Report (now Instrumenta), Genomika, and market research studies until sold to PJB Publications, now part of Informa plc

2000 to date - Science consultancy, freelance writing and charity work

An edited version first appeared in Graduates Review Spring 2007 and can be found here