wagamama has launched a new student support society featuring free online cooking lessons called ‘wok from halls’, locked down food drops and giveaways for those students who have returned to university during the pandemic.
Over the last four weeks wagamama’s concern for the locked in plight of students has led to it launching the new student support society called Noodle Union. This new student society consists of food drops for locked down students, student sunday events for those still able to socialise, a new student cooking show created with MOB kitchen, giveaways and a partnership with mental health charity, YoungMinds.
41 per cent of young people told YoungMinds that covid-19 made their mental health worse and the same survey highlighted friends as being the most helpful form of support. Off the back of this insight, wagamama has made a donation to YoungMinds to help develop their peer to peer support campaign.
An initiative to help young people support each other, so that when students reach out they know how to be there for one another. wagamama’s partnership with YoungMinds has also enabled them to use their platform to promote “coping on campus” materials along with sharing the details of the 24/7 crisis messenger service that YoungMinds centres itself around.
wagamama CEO Emma Woods said: “We know from student customers coming into our restaurants that they are struggling with this far from normal return to University life. It feels for many like some form of big brother house mass experiment where students are being locked in and left to fend for themselves. We are delighted to be working with Young Minds, a charity dedicated to supporting young people’s mental health when they need it most”
During lockdown wagamama launched ‘wok from home’ a hugely successful online how to cook wagamama show which was enjoyed by millions.
wagamama has brought this innovative series to halls, with a new cooking show created in partnership with legendary student channel MOB kitchen. The show, aptly named ‘wok from halls’ will teach university students how to cook wagamama classics on campus.
The free online cooking series presented by wagamama’s much loved executive chef, Steve Mangleshot, has been created specifically with students in mind, using ingredients students should be able to access easily or already have in their cupboard. Wok from halls will be released on tik tok, facebook. IGTV + snapchat and also available on MOB kitchen social media and website.
Wok from Hall recipes include: Hot katsu curry (chicken + vegan), Yasai yaki soba (vegan), Vegan donburi and Pimp your ramen!
For more details please see: https://www.wagamama.com/noodle-union
And T+Cs are here: https://www.wagamama.com/noodle-union/student-sunday-terms-conditions
Steve Mangleshot is the executive head chef at wagamama and has been with the company for 20 years.
With over 30 years experience in the restaurant industry as a fully qualified chef, Steve is the creative director of menu innovation at wagamama and has been doing so for the last 12 years. He is responsible for creating dishes which he takes inspiration from Japan and wider Asia, bringing eastern flavours to the west.
He has a vast amount of media experience and is regularly interviewed for print and TV channels including Fox News, Channel 4 and has assisted the producers of Masterchef.