School meals have come a long way from the days of soggy chips, turkey twizzlers and deep-fried hamburgers. But the number of children taking school meals is in decline - meaning the service might soon become unviable. The Sunday Times wants to increase take-up by making school meals tastier and healthier - but your help is needed!
They're asking children to rate and review their school dinner or packed lunch, for the chance to have a free lunch for themselves and their family at the restaurant of top chef Bruno Loubet in London. The winner will also be published in The Sunday Times.
Here John Vincent, co-founder of Leon Restaurants and author of the School Food Plan, explains more.
"I was at school in the 1970s and 1980s. At Chase Side Primary School in Enfield, I needed fuel to play kiss chase with Justine Willis (well, I am sure it was with others, but Justine was the main focus of the game) and to play football. The school meals were shipped in from another school and they were enough to put most non free school meals children off, and probably quite a few free school meals children too. So in the end I switched to being a packed lunch kid and opted for a ham and coleslaw sandwich (which I loved actually but probably not best to eat every day), a packet of crisps and either a kit kat or a wagon wheel.
At my secondary school we were part of the 1980s experiment to mould processed meats into different shapes and to see what happens if children eat chips every day (at least it meant that Chris Little perfected the technique of licking his chips to stop anyone else eating them).
Today, scientific studies have proven that the school meals served in many schools are much more nutritious than packed lunches, which are high in carbohydrate and sugars, and as a result of the ham, high in dangerous Nitrates and Nitrites. It is very difficult for even 'foodie' mums and dads to create a packed lunch that meets the nutrition that children need. And yet only 40% of children choose a school meal, vs 70% in the 1970s. And what's more, those who do often cherry-pick which days they do so, and navigate through the week to choose the burger or pizza day.
It means that some children, (up to one in four) are becoming obese. And that means they feel less good than they should. And it means that they are going to be less healthy later in life. Whether children are obese or not, many are not eating the right nutrition. And many have unbalanced blood sugar swings that leave them feeling sleepy and unable to learn. And others are hungry and equally unable to learn. Well fed children have better academic results.
The good news is that many schools are realising this. Led by Headteachers, supported by a committed bursar or business manager and passionate school cooks, these schools are focusing on the things that encourage children and parents to opt for a school meal: great food; social aspects such as short queues and being able to eat with friends; a nice place to eat; affordable prices; school food being seen as the cool or attractive thing to go for. In fact, Chase Side Primary School today is one of those - led by an inspiring Headteacher Sally Quartson.
This take-up benefits everyone. It allows for fixed costs to be spread, and for prices to come down. And it allows for more children to eat better.
The key is for the Head and their team to engage your children. And for them to engage you. If they don't, it is your turn to engage them. Many schools have been turned around by parents taking a lead. So we have teamed up with the Sunday Times to launch a campaign, to get you into the school to try the food. You may well be pleasantly surprised. If not, pleasantly surprise yourself by making sure that the Headteacher and the school's cooking staff start a revolution. Jamie Oliver and others started it. We are carrying it on. And so can you.
There have already been great strides made since Jamie put turkey twizzlers into the nation's consciousness sever years ago. My LEON colleague Henry Dimbleby and I have been working on an action plan, commissioned by Michael Gove and to be launched this Summer, to make sure our children are eating well in school and that cooking and food play a positive role more broadly in education. We have already made some big steps forward as part of our School Food Plan; Michael Gove has taken on board our advice to make cooking compulsory in the curriculum from September 2014. We have a generation of people who cannot cook for themselves or their families. We have set out to change this for the generation of children in school.
We'd love it if you joined the new Sunday Times Campaign for Better School Meals. You can make a great start by encouraging your children to write a review of food in their school. There are prizes. Which is nice.
We hope our Plan and the Sunday Times campaign will help many view school food in a new light - for it to be considered as crucial in cementing a healthy relationship between our children and the food they eat, for the rest of their lives. In the best schools we have seen cooks creating delicious and nutritious meals, children learning to grow vegetables and herbs, understanding where food comes from, visiting farms, and helping the school chefs cook the food they have grown themselves. And we have seen children given time to eat, to talk, sometimes with their teachers. It sounds natural. It is. Now let's make it normal.
Find out more about reviewing your school meals, and how to help make school meals better (competition terms and conditions apply).