“Fruits contain all vitamins: A, B, C, D, E and K!” Ibrahim, a 9-year-old Ivorian, is a regular participant in the healthy cooking workshop, which he has attended for almost two years. He teaches his seven fellow chefs by peeling a pear for fruit salad in the breakfast workshop. “Manue, what is vitamin K again? » Emmanuelle Mouy, machine gun flow and southern accent, replies: “Vitamin K is like potassium: good for the heart! »

In mid-October, at the Palais de la Femme in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, a Salvation Army shelter, 23 places in the communal kitchen are occupied by African women. About ten children in red aprons take part in the one and a half hour workshop every two months.

Former nurse Emmanuelle Mouy, 56, completed her CAP in cooking in 2019 and two years later founded the association Toques en stock to reduce nutritional inequalities and learn “eat better” for precarious population groups. “At the beginning of our partnership with the Salvation Army, we worked with residents of the Palais de la Femme: isolated women or mothers, she explains. Then a few children wanted to learn how to peel vegetables. They were so engaged that we made them our “ambassadors” to speak about food and health at a local school. They also teach their parents. »

“Iron-cooked mackerel papillotes”

At a time when, according to INSEE Inflation reached 4% in October and 7.7% in food, the issue of access to healthy food is more problematic than ever. According to a February study by the CSA Institute, the number of food aid recipients has tripled in ten years, reaching 2.4 million people at the end of 2022. And sales of cheap products rose by 20% within a year, according to the Nielsen Institute, which collects mass distribution figures for the Inflation Observatory every month 60 million consumers.

“For vulnerable people it’s a double whammy, we eat less and poorly: the food parcels that three quarters of vulnerable people use are often full of sugar and fat, they are real time bombs for health.” regrets Emmanuelle Mouy.

She also travels around Paris and its suburbs in her van, which is equipped with a refrigerator filled with spices, basic ingredients, utensils and recipe cards from the National Nutrition and Health Program, helping people in difficulty. She goes to social hotels, community kitchens (where you can prepare your own meals if you don’t have your own kitchen), day reception centers and emergency shelters. “If there is no hob, we adapt the recipes: Marengo veal in the kettle, mackerel packets in the iron. » This last example involves putting aluminum on the iron shoe, then protecting the food with baking paper and ironing it to cook it.

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