"The additional information gives you a sense of why this is a country where Tearfund has to support local partners," says Gordon. "It bridges Tearfund supporters in the UK to the people around the world who need their support and prayers."
By June 2006, 5,000 copies of the cookbook had been printed. By September, enough had been sold to cover all printing costs and send a £1,000 cheque to Tearfund. This Christmas, Brenda and Gordon will have raised nearly £20,000 for the charity.
Their hope is that the many Christians who have already bought the book will be inspired to act on some of the humanitarian issues raised alongside the recipes.
"It makes people aware of these issues in a completely different way - it's not your normal mailing from Tearfund or Christian Aid," says Gordon. "And you can't avoid reading the facts. They're there in front of you.
"If people are from the sorts of families that say grace, then once they have had their meal they will pray for these people, and I think that really does help and does raise awareness."
The response to the cookbook has been overwhelming. Some have bought it to use as a resource to talk about Tearfund and what it does. Home economic teachers bought it to use in their global citizenship classes as a prop to teach students about issues such as trade justice and poverty.
It is not only Christians who have bought the cookbook, however. It has also found appeal among non-Christians who are committed to fair-trade and global development.
Just Fairtrade, a fair-trade shop in Leicester, sold around 100 copies of the book. Staff worker at the shop, Janine Buckley-Hewing, expressed her support for the cookbook saying, "Projects like this one, to sell a book full of global information and great recipes, help us here at Just [Fairtrade] to feel even closer to the people who most need our help."
