Creative Students Work with International Cohort to Produce Special Cookbook

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Graphic Design student, Emma Cooper, and Creative Digital Media student, Nathan Griffiths, joined forces to design and create the book, offering more than 30 recipes suggested and prepared by students who have come to study at the University of Worcester from overseas.

Ten months in the making, it features recipes from countries including the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Russia, Costa Rica, Estonia, Australia and Nigeria.

Emma, of Lichfield, Staffordshire, designed the layout of the book and did all the illustrations, while Nathan, of Shustoke, Warwickshire, photographed the dishes. The pair, both 21, who have just finished their final year, did the project as part of their final year assignments working, with the University's International Experience team.

For each dish, the contributor provided anecdotes about why their dishes reminded them of home and the special occasions that you might make them for.

There is also a feature recipe from Mark Stinchcombe, from the Eckington Manor restaurant, in Pershore, who was winner of MasterChef: The Professionals in 2015, and a pancake recipe from the University's Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, Professor David Green.

Nathan photographed the dishes during a special food festival at the University. "I did a lot of research into different examples of cookbooks over the semester, looking at how the photography in them was approached which gave me interesting ideas on how to approach shooting the images for the cookbook," he said.

Emma researched by looking at current cookbooks to inspire her to create a clean and easy to read layout. She also looked at different ways that she could apply illustrations to the book effectively.

Emma, who wants a career in graphic design, hopes to work on similar projects in the future. "It was a great experience and it's amazing to see the final book completed; all the hard work has definitely paid off," she said. "Being able to take on this project was a great opportunity for us both to showcase our skills in the form of a book. This will be great to take to interviews and will hopefully impress future employers."

Nathan, who wants to work in photography or videography, added: "It is great to see a lot of hard work pay off and this will be a great memento to look back on at my time at university. The international aspect was a very nice idea; seeing many different cultures food combined into one book was exciting and getting to taste the food wasn't half bad either. I hope that this project opens many gateways into new and exciting opportunities and hopefully having that on my record will be something that future employers look at with great interest."

The book is on sale at the University's St John's campus and in the University and County Council's joint library, The Hive, priced at £7.