Marcus Rashford: ‘My Favourite Memory Growing Up Was Going To Park With My Mum Because That Meant She Was Resting’

This morning, Marcus Rashford MBE and Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge announced they have joined forces to launch a new national programme ‘Full Time: Get Cooking with Marcus and Tom’, in the footballer’s latest effort to tackle food poverty.

The Full Time initiative aims to equip families with the skills to get the most out of the government’s new ‘Healthy Start’ voucher scheme - which gives eligible families access to free essential food. Working together, Marcus and Tom have curated 52 easy to follow recipes that will be available on cards in selected supermarkets and posted to Instagram each week. The hope is that by offering the skills and confidence to cook proper food, they’ll guarantee everyone using the recipe cards goes to bed with full tummies.

The Healthy Start voucher scheme, which starts this month, gives eligible pregnant people or those with children under the age of 4 access to free vouchers or payments every month to spend on household food necessities including cow’s milk, fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables, infant formula milk and fresh, dried, and tinned pulses as well as Healthy Start vitamins. Food vouchers are sent out by post every four weeks and vitamins vouchers every eight weeks, with over 21,000 retail outlets registered across the UK with the scheme. You can find out more about whose eligible and where vouchers can be spent here.

‘Following government investment into Healthy Start it was important to me that we demonstrated the power in collaboration,’ Marcus said of the campaign. ‘We needed to come up with a creative project that really engaged children most in need, preparing them for what adult life has to offer, whilst also attracting all children to break down stigma around usage of the vouchers.

‘This project is for every child and I really hope parents and carers will benefit from having a bit of valuable time together in the kitchen when family activity is heavily restricted by financial restraints. I’m proud of what we’ve done here, I’m thankful for Tom, thankful for the Child Food Poverty Task Force members, and I can’t wait to see what the response is.’

In order to cater to all types of families no matter what their financial situation, the emphasis of the simple recipes is on limited equipment and includes store cupboard goods with a longer shelf life. Launching April 18th, the recipes will be available to pick up from selected supermarkets every Sunday morning and for those who have access to the internet, each recipe card also features a QR code linking to the Full Time Instagram page where users can access tutorials hosted by Tom, Marcus and a selection of celebrity guests and families.

It’s Marcus Rashford’s latest inspiring move into tackling child food poverty, a passion he attributes to not only his own circumstances growing up but to the strength of his mother too. Talking to Grazia, he opened up about his favourite childhood memories with her and everything he learned watching her in the kitchen.

‘Anything that I learned in the house came from my mum,’ Marcus explained. ‘Respect, everything. But when I was in the kitchen I couldn’t be right over her food because she’d tell me that she doesn’t want me there, so I used to get a stool and move it back into the centre of the kitchen and watch her cook.

‘My favourite memory of my mum is actually when we used to go the park because in the back of my mind I knew that if she’s coming to the park it means that she’s resting, she’s not working like she usually is all the time,’ Marcus continued. ‘They were my most favourite times, simply just going to the park with my mum.’

Hearing him speak of how tirelessly she worked, it’s no surprise Marcus has the work ethic he does as a premier league footballer and relentless campaigner. With men like him doing the work the government should be, it seems there’s hope for solving this harrowing issue yet.

Click through to find out more ways to help end food poverty