Please note, a write-up of this event was also featured in The Scotsman. You can read it by clicking here.
In December, Edinburgh Food Social welcomed students completing Action for Children’s four-to-six week hospitality course. As in past years, these students came to the EFS kitchen for a three-day project. Before the project started, the students decided that they wanted the three days to culminate in them cooking and serving a Christmas meal for local pensioners’ club at Sandy’s Community Centre.
Aside from wanting to put on the best event possible, everyone at Edinburgh Food Social was driven by the fact that these three days were the students’ only opportunity to gain hands-on experience throughout the Action for Children course. Because of this, every moment mattered.

Some guests enjoying themselves.
As is so often the case when preparing a large meal for lots of people, the first day was filled with prep. Some students peeled and chopped huge quantities of potatoes, carrots and parsnips. Others prepared the starter: roast tomato and pepper soup. The students also clubbed together to cook a family lunch – an important skill for any aspiring hospitality professional – producing chicken, chips and a beautiful salad.
The second day saw the young people roasting the potatoes, parsnips and carrots while also braising cabbage. After lunch, the young people watched one of our chef-activists break down a whole turkey and prepare it for the oven. Although gruesome, this demonstration was a necessary one; Edinburgh Food Social places great importance on developing young peoples’ understanding of food and that includes the fact that all of the meat on supermarket shelves once belonged to a live animal. This sentiment was echoed by one of the students who said, ‘I’m glad I got to see you butcher the turkey, it has made me more aware of where our food comes from.’

Students watching the turkey being butchered.
On the third and final day, the students added the finishing touches to their dishes. They then headed over to Sandy’s Community Centre. Guests began arriving by midday. As the dining hall filled up, some of the students began to get pre-event nerves. Unlike our Craigmillar community Christmas meal, this event involved guests being served at their seat by the students, and while cooking for over well 50 people is one thing, walking into the dining room and serving them is quite another.
With a little encouragement, the students swallowed their nerves and began serving the food all while having polite and engaging conversations with the guests. The rest of the event went past in a blur and it was only once all the dishes had been cleared, and the students were sitting down for their own dinner, that there was space for reflection. The overriding emotion was pride.
‘I was dead nervous before we started serving,’ said one of the young people. ‘But now it’s done, I’m so proud of myself.’

A guest and student laughing.
‘The kids should be dead proud,’ a guest concurred. ‘It was a cracking Christmas dinner.’ Another added: ‘I can’t believe you all made this. It was incredible.’
Edinburgh Food Social’s head Kirsty Haigh agreed. She said, ‘Our project is about so much more than mastering recipes—it’s about understanding the ethos of hospitality and using food and events as a way to bring people together. These young people didn’t just create a meal; they created joy, community, and a lasting memory in the true spirit of Christmas.’
The Menu
- Roast Tomato and Pepper Soup with Crusty Bread.
- Turkey and/or Roast Ham and/or Vegan Wellington
- Roast potatoes, Roast Parsnips and Roast Carrots.
- Braised Red Cabbage,
- Bread Sauce and Gravy.
- Spiced Apple Crumble with Homemade Custard.