Food.
We've heard a lot about school meals and attempts to improve them but how about this for an idea? A primary school in London has turned to the local gastro-pub for inspiration and the first results look promising. So chips and chicken nuggets have made way for risotto, cous cous and salad. Admittedly Thornhill Primary School is in trendy Islington, but its partnership with the local gastro pub, the Duke of Cambridge, is the sort of idea which is beginning to take shape in other schools elsewhere in the country. Andrew Bomford has a report on this - scheduled to run tomorrow - here's a flavour of what to expect:
Caroline Moore used to be a dinner lady - now she's the Head Chef - seen here laying out the food with Geetie Singh from the Duke of Cambridge.
Bowl of Cous Cous.
Bowl of salad
Caroline and Geetie.
An almost empty plate for Anthony.
Chicken Pie goes down well for Jimmy
lunch time at Thornhill Primary
Melon gets a thumbs up from Maya.
11.30 UPDATE: The menu at Thornhill Primary School for the next three weeks includes (all organic):
Lamb or vegetable stew, salad, fruit and cheese
Roast Chicken, root vegetables, broccoli, fresh fruit salad and cream
Chicken Risotto, salad, rhubarb crumble and cream
Fish or vegetable pie,
Lamb or vegetable Lasagne
Chicken or vegetable curry
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Hey with all this delicious food, McDonalds will be able to drive even more of their Bio lorries around. The kids will be heading there in droves.
Oh, Eddie, did you have to? This all looks so scrumptious that I've got a yen for an early lunch ....
Seriously, though, this is a great idea. I'm becoming more hopeful that children are taking to alternatives to Big M*cs and the like. Several young children that I know are now less keen on crisps and chips, and love to munch on cucumber, peppers, raw broccoli, tomatoes, and the like. Couscous is yummy, and a good way to introduce children to beans and other vegetables if these are mixed in with the couscous.
Well done, Thornhill, Well done Duke of Cambridge!
Hmm, my hunch -- and I admit it is merely a hunch -- is that the children of Islington didn't really have much to worry about in the way of nutrition anyway. I'd like to think it will spread to schools in poorer socio-economic catchment areas, but I suspect, if it does, it will be a watered-down version -- quite literally in some respects...
If you look at the pictures, you will notice that the building has very high ceilings. I suspect it's a Victorian primary school building. The sort of school building people keep saying are inappropriate to modern needs. I'd say that it's taken to this new lunch regime with flying colours.
Completely agree, Appy. The kids at one school I work at wouldn't know what to do with cous cous. Trendy Med food for trendy families is bound to work, but what about food appealing to kids living in areas where "health food" is chewing the pork pie between mouthfulls?
I tend to agree with you Aperetif! especially knowing Islington quite well.
I'm actually not really sure how relevant this story is, or of how much interest it will be - after all the Jamie Oliver stuff.
I'd guess they will be rather predicatable questions and answers.
Although I'm all for organic - can someone explain to me what an organic chicken is?
Finally, on a personal note we normally (for toast) buy the Asda smart price loaves. They are priced at .28 p per loaf. The store ran out the other day so I bought the Asda (White) Square cut loaves instead at .68pence.
Guess what, they look identicle, taste identical, so I've just compared the ingredients of both - as I had a smart price loaf in the Freezer.
IDENTICAL!
Wheat Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt, Vinegar, Soya Flour, Vegetable Fat, Emulsifier, (Mono and Diacetyltartaric acid Esters of mono and Diglycerides of fatty acids) Flour treatment agent, (Ascorbic acid)
So where does the extra 40 pence go??
Jonnie,
I assume an "organic" chicken hasn't been fed on GM feeds or feeds grown with chemical fertilisers or pesticide use.
Before the BSE scandal, it was commonplace tu use DPM (dried poultry manure) as a constituent of cattle feed.....
Yummmm!
ed
I can only talk about food in the US Public School System. The food in the US Public School System is anti health and contains poisons.
I have a child who is very funny with food textures so she is a nightmare to feed. The great thing is she won't eat from Roland McD's place. The fact she has a limited menu is a constant nightmare which is why she has a packed lunch. We can control what she eats (or not) Saying that the menu and piccies of the food look great.
And as for organic food. Is Foie organic?. After all the geese are corn fed ;-)
Jonnie: More pertinently, what is an inorganic chicken?
I abhor this encouragement of under age drinking.
How come no one else has a no smoking sign up yet?I had a wander round town at lunch and only the local shopping centre seems to have a notice at the entrance. I, being a good citizen, have mine up.
Indeed Jason!
I think Ed hit the nail on the head. From some digging - and pasting from a commercial chicken breeders website :-
ORGANIC or Additive-FREE?
To be fully organic, chickens must be fed a diet containing grain which has been grown organically, without artificial fertilisers or sprays. Such feed is expensive, and we therefore offer our customers a choice - either fully organic chickens, or "additive-free". Additive-free birds are reared in the same way as the organic, under the same welfare conditions, but the grain in their feed is not organically grown, and is therefore cheaper. This means that the additive-free chickens can be sold at a lower price than the organic
Gosh, Roberto, contains poisons? Is this a new method of population control by President Bush or have the Ruskis turned to the US school population as their laboratory of choice? Alternatively, of course, it could be an AlQueda plot. Does this mean Bush will be sending all High School heads to Guantanamo Bay, I wonder? :¬S
Jason (10),
Something akin to the Stainless Steel Cat?
xx
ed
Sorry Feline Inoxydable, I didn't mean it to be malicious!
Jonnie (13): I bet they all contain carbon....
That food looks miles better that any we have just had throughout our hols.
Oh, wait a minute, we were self catering......
All I know is that you still can't get a vodka tonic at the Cambridge or even a Gin and Tonic.
Well, at least the last time I was there.
Apparently they couldn't source "organic" vodka or gin. And all their drinks and food are organic.
Fair enough. Rules are rules.
Mind you, I think they were a little miffed when I asked for a Free Range wine.
And Jason,
I spent £6-50 all because of this blog entry by purchasing an organic chicken this evening! - then the checkout lady in Asda wiped her hands after checking through the chicken exclaiming!
Be careful with organic chickens - I caught Campylobacter Infection off an organic chicken and never touch any organic poultry now!!!!!
What DOES one do?
jonnie @ 19, when it's chicken one does what my old Ma always did with chicken: cook it thoroughly. Poultry, like pig-flesh, harbours a fair few nasty bacilli, and they are destroyed by heat, but it needs to be applied for long enough and there needs to be a high enough temperature involved. If it is undercooked, chicken is not safe -- nor is turkey, nor duck -- whether it is free-range and organic and all the rest of it, or has been reared in a cage so small it can't move its wings at all nor get to its feet and fed on chemicals to make it put on flesh.
This is why women used to get up at four in the morning to start cooking the Christmas turkey: they didn't want the day to end with everyone having an upset stomach. Well, a worse upset stomach than unaccustomed gluttony would give them anyway.
When it's a chicken, the microwave is not your friend.
jonnie @ 19, my reply yesterday has gone into the big black blog hole so I shall try again.
What one has to do with all poultry, as with all pig meat, is cook it thoroughly. My old Ma knew this. If the meat is pink, it hasn't cooked for long enough, hot enough, to kill the bacilli that lurk in the fowls. In this case the microwave is not your friend, because it doesn't do the job as well as a conventional oven.
The reason people who don't have over-timers should get up at four in the morning to start the turkey cooking for Christmas lunch is that they don't want the family getting upset tums from eating it -- well, more upset than they get anyway from unaccustomed gluttony!
Back to some earlier comments about "trendy Islington". They've got it totally wrong. Thornhill has some very expensive streets near it, but most of those residents send their kids to private schools in Hampstead. As a consequence Thornhill primary was always undersubscribed with a higher than average percentage of English as a second language and kids on free school meals. The stereotypical Islington resident (eg Blair) doesn't send his children to Thornhill. Well, they never used to but if they carry on with the couscous, I suppose they might start...
Well said Chris! I got food poisoning last week from chicken someone else (I suspect) hadn't cooked properly. White meat can be lethal in the vulnerable if it isn't cooked thoroughly.
Lovely to hear children enjoying a healthy meal. I wish this lot would do our catering at work!
Polly @ 22, thank you. I had been vaguely wondering whether perhaps Islington wasn't entirely populated by the posh, and it is good to have my suspicion confirmed.
One pound fifty for these meals is probably good value in anyone's money! It's a shame that they are talking about it having to go up to two quid in the autumn. I hope the price rise doesn't mean that the poorer children miss out.
Hope you enjoyed your chicken, Jonnie. If you're looking for a really good eat, seek out Devon Reds (in some supermarkets they will tell you the breed of the bird). Doesn't have to be organic, free range will do. The flavour is wonderful, like the chicken I used to eat as a child, before Bernard Matthew was invented.
I'd far rather only eat chicken (or any meat) on an occasional basis, then eat for flavour - and with animal welfare in mind - than eat the cheaper, mass produced options. A good case of 'less is more'.
Hope you enjoyed your chicken, Jonnie. If you're looking for a really good eat, seek out Devon Reds (in some supermarkets they will tell you the breed of the bird). Doesn't have to be organic, free range will do. The flavour is wonderful, like the chicken I used to eat as a child, before Bernard Matthew was invented.
I'd far rather only eat chicken (or any meat) on an occasional basis, then eat for flavour - and with animal welfare in mind - than eat the cheaper, mass produced options. A good case of 'less is more'.
Hello, what is carolyn wyatt doing these days?