Idris Caldora to lead primary school food project for Chefs Adopt a School

Chefs Adopt a School executive chef Idris Caldora MCA will launch a food education curriculum pilot project tomorrow at St George's School in Mayfair, the charity has announced.

Caldora will work with the same group of children throughout their primary education, an approach based on 21 years of evidence gathered by the Academy of Culinary Arts' charity project.

This year's group will have a Chefs Adopt a School session each term for the next six years. The course aims to create well-educated 11-year-olds who are comfortable and confident with food and learn basic cookery skills.

It will also make the children aware of issues such as sustainability, responsible farming and animal welfare.

Statistics reveal that almost 18% of children aged between 2 and 15 years old have grown clinically obese in the past decade. If this trend continues, one-fifth of boys and one-third of girls will be obese by 2020.

Obesity increases the risk of a range of chronic diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes, stroke and coronary heart disease. The costs to the NHS attributable to excessive weight and obesity are projected to double to £10b per year by 2050.

Chefs Adopt a School believes this can be redressed by increasing education and practical learning in order to arm young people with the knowledge and skills to adopt a healthier lifestyle through informed choice.

The charity, which has been campaigning to restore food education to the primary curriculum as a subject in its own right through the FEAST (Food Education at School Today) initiative for the past five years, said that this food education curriculum pilot was the next step.

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By Janie Stamford

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