March 2010 Archives

Chefs from events caterer Heathcotes Outside have put a group of Warrington families through their paces at the home of Rugby Super League club Warrington Wolves.

The chefs served up tips on creating tasty and healthy meals from scratch using fresh ingredients as part of a National Lottery and Warrington Council-funded healthy eating campaign.

Ian Hill head chef at Heathcotes at Warrington said: "Our aim is to demonstrate that healthy food is enjoyable to prepare, fun to cook and delicious to eat.

"The response from the group which attended the first workshop was tremendous. They really took to their task and created some great meals at the end of it.

"If we help people take up cooking healthy meals at home and then go on to share their new found confidence and skills with others then we believe we will be making a small positive difference to people lives."

Led by the Warrington Wolves Foundation, the project which will run during the spring and summer, aims to get parents and children thinking more about healthy eating and making healthy choices at meal times.

For more information on the programme please visit www.warringtonfoundation.co.uk

An additional 600,000 children could be eligible for free school meals, according to plans announced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

From September, primary school children from low-income families, who are receiving Working Tax Credit, will have access to free school meals as part of a Government proposal published for consultation yesterday.

The plans follow the passing of the Child Poverty Act which enshrines the Government's commitment to "eradicate" child poverty in law. The Government estimates that 50,000 children could be helped out of poverty by extending the eligibility.

Rob Rees, chair of the School Food Trust, said: "Free school meals are crucial in helping families with low incomes to make sure that their children get a well-balanced meal during the school day.

"We know that a good school lunch helps improve children's health, wellbeing and performance so we strongly support these plans to increase the number of families who can benefit." 

Children's secretary Ed Balls said the passing of the Act reaffirms the Government's promise to give children the best possible start in life. "As part of this commitment, I'm pleased to be announcing today new plans to extend free school meals to primary school children whose families are on working tax credit.

"This will give thousands more families the confidence and financial security they need to help lift them out of poverty."

• Visit the DCSF's consultation online 

Jamie Oliver has teamed up with the UK's largest education body Edexcel to a create teacher-friendly cookery course for secondary schools.

The Home Cooking Skills course, which will be available for all UK secondary schools and further education colleges later this year, represents his first move back into education since his Jamie's School Dinners campaign and television series in 2005.

The idea formed out of a conversation between Oliver and Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Edexcel's parent company Pearson.

Oliver said: "Six years ago, I asked the Government to make cooking and life skills compulsory for all kids so that they learn about food and good eating habits while they're young. Six years on, the government have set aside time for mandatory cooking lessons for 11-14 year olds, but a lot of teachers and head-teachers are still wondering how they're going to fill those hours."

He said that he grew impatient waiting for a plan to be formulated so decided to take on the task himself.

"I wanted a course that would inspire kids but also inspire teachers; something that would be both easy and fun to teach. I also wanted to be able to ensure that those hours were packed with absolutely crucial learning, so I started developing a course for key stage 3 to teach everything you need to know. 

Designed with teacher-ease in mind, Teacher Support Materials will accompany the course, which are user-friendly enough for those without a home economics qualification to be able to teach. In addition to step-by-step photography for every recipe there will be internet video support, and hints and tips to help teachers master basic cooking skills before teaching their classes.

Home Cooking Skills will be available in two levels. Level one will focus on the skills needed to prepare tasty and nutritious home-cooked food from fresh ingredients as well as the value of passing on cooking knowledge.

Level two will develop the students' ability to plan and prepare a series of nutritious home-cooked meals for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner, and help them understand how to cook economically. 

In addition the course will cover other essential basics such as how to equip a kitchen and shop cleverly to save money; fridge management and food rotation; how to write a shopping list; and how to read and understand confusing food labels. 

Rod Bristow, Pearson UK president said: "I have great admiration for Jamie and the way he has championed nutritional value. His vision of equipping children and adults with the skill and ability to cook healthy and nutritious meals sits seamlessly with our desire to ensure everyone is able to achieve their full potential."

Judy Hargadon, chief executive of the School Food Trust, said: "There has been a huge transformation in the quality of school food since Jamie brought the issue into the nation's living room 6 years ago, not least with the introduction of the License To Cook and Let's Get Cooking schemes that are in force now for young people in England.

"Even with so many cooks and teachers already involved in providing healthy school meals, there is always room for someone of Jamie's calibre to share his expertise in cookery lessons. We welcome the news that Jamie continues to be involved in the school food agenda and we look forward to working with him and his team over the coming months and years."

The Home Cooking Skills course will be ready for schools and colleges to begin teaching in September. 

PepsiCo has announced that it will stop selling full-sugar soft drinks to all primary and secondary schools by 2012.

The global policy came after the World Heart Federation spent the last year negotiating with soft drink makers to have them remove sugary beverages from schools in an effort to combat a rise in childhood obesity, which can lead to diabetes, heart problems and other ailments.

The company said it will remove full-calorie, sweetened drinks from schools in more than 200 countries, marking the first such move by a major soft drink producer. Pekka Puska, president of the World Heart Federation, welcomed the move and said he hopes other companies feel pressured to make similar moves.

PepsiCo will sell only water, fat-free or low-fat milk, and juice with no added sugar in primary schools. In secondary schools, it will sell those drinks along with low-calorie soft drinks, such as Diet Pepsi. Sports drinks will be permissible when they're sold to students participating in sports or other physical activities.

The policy applies in all countries outside the United States. PepsiCo, the world's second largest soft drink maker and number one player Coca-Cola both adopted guidelines to stop selling sugary drinks in U.S. schools in 2006.

Coca-Cola this month changed its global sales policy to say it won't sell any of its drinks worldwide in primary schools unless parents or school districts ask. The policy does not apply to secondary schools. The World Heart Federation wants all drinks with added sugars removed from schools with children through age 18.

Tell us what you think about this announcement in our discussion pages on Table Talk.

Adrian Oliver of Margot's Bistro Padstow gave kids at Padstow School, in Padstow, Cornwall a hands-on cooking experience during Healthy Eating Week.

Oliver, also known as @Basilchef on Twitter, taught pupils from all six years aged five-years old upwards were how to make bread and cook fish. They also learned about food miles and fruit.

For more photos of the great week, visit the Healthy Eating Week at Padstow School gallery at Table Talk.

Signatures have tipped the 700 mark today as support for School Meals Matter gathers pace, so a big thank you to everyone who has signed so far.

Well done to those who have made photocopies and posted in bundles of signed forms.

A very enterprising bunch at an Eden Foodservice site in Llangefni, Wales did particularly well - they sent in 50 forms today!

If you haven't already, please sign the form now so we can reach our first milestone of 1,000 signatures.

And if you have, why not tell your friends and colleagues about the importance of school meals.

Sign below, or alternatively you can download the form to post. Can you beat Eden's record of 50 forms?