Thursday, September 20, 2012

Inspirational young chef publishes cookbook to benefit charity




Scholastic New Zealand has teamed up with inspirational ten-year-old boy Nicholas Brockelbank to produce Nic’s Cookbook, which contains some of the young chef’s favourite recipes which other children will love to cook. Nic lives with muscular dystrophy and was the 2012 ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Nic and Scholastic NZ are donating half of the royalties from sales of this book to the MDA.



Nic started cooking when one of his teachers suggested it might help with his schoolwork, and has since shown significant improvements in reading, spelling and maths. He put together his first ‘cookbook’ when he was eight years old, as a Christmas present for family and friends. This photocopied booklet of recipes was so popular he wrote another one and set up a website (www.nicocool.com) to sell the recipe books and artwork to raise money for the MDA, the Christchurch Earthquake Relief Fund and the True Colours Charitable Trust. The website also describes aspects of Nic’s life with muscular dystrophy from his point of view, like having a wheelchair and undertaking lots of hospital appointments and tests.

In April 2011 Nic won the TVNZ Good Morning Kids’ Cook Off with his Chicken and Broccoli Pasta recipe, which is in the cookbook. During 2011 Nic was nominated by the MDA for the TVNZ Attitude Pictures ‘Attitude Awards’ (for people living with disabilities) for his fundraising efforts and cooking achievements, and was a finalist in the Youth Category. This year Nic was the ambassador for the MDA Bow Tie Appeal. He appeared alongside Judy Bailey, the MDA patron, in television ads and on billboards and posters for the campaign.

Nic’s Cookbook contains starters and light meals, mains, desserts and sweets, and each recipe is graded for difficulty. The 32-page brightly-coloured book with easy-to-follow recipes retails for just $10.00, and will be released in October 2012



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