The chefs 'reinventing school dinners'

School chefs from Blackpool are "reinventing school dinners".

The School Chef Educator Programme, run by the organisation Chefs In Schools, taught chefs from 17 primary and secondary schools how to pack more vegetables into meals, encourage pupils to try new foods, and reduce food waste.

Nia Rutter, a chef from Unity Academy in Blackpool, said the cuisine was a far cry from the "cement mixer food" of days gone by.

Blackpool councillor Jo Farrell, the cabinet member for communities and wellbeing, said the council was encouraging the chefs "to gain the qualifications and devise menus that are nutritious for our children in schools".

Long gone are the days of rock hard jacket potatoes and sponge cake with pink icing.

The chefs were taught to cook butternut squash macaroni and cheese, hoisin mushroom bao buns and "hulk cake" - a cake with added peas.

Rutter said: "I remember being at school, and having the sponge and the mint-green custard - awful. Cement mixer food.

"We still have the bright green, but it's not in custard-form now! It's in peas, and pea fritters and stuff, so yeah it's much better."

"It's an easy way for the picky eaters to slowly build up their tolerance to fruit and vegetables", Rutter said.

Jason Whittle, a development chef for Blackpool Council, said the qualification gained on the course gave "our staff credit for what they already do on a day to day basis".

"We've learnt many different recipes, many different dishes that we wouldn't normally think about: putting peas in cakes and putting butternut squash through the pasta."

"This obviously makes them more healthy, but also makes them more cost effective, and means less sugar going through the diets of the children."

"When I was at school, I had chips and sausage roll nearly every day. There's none of that any more. We're trying to get healthy produce into the school children."

The training was delivered by the national charity Chefs in Schools.

The organisation is backed by celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver and helps children to access better food in schools.

Sam Phillips, director of programmes at the charity, said it was rare that school chefs were given the time to go on a training course.

Phillips said the chefs were taught culinary skills, the importance of eating seasonally, and learning how best to engage and encourage the children they are serving.

Cheryl Morrison, a nutritionist who took part in the course, said it was "quite hard to get things like Omega 3 into the children", but that the new recipes allowed chefs to "sneak vegetables in".

Chef Rutter added: "It was kind of ways of introducing food to kids - because if you show them a salad they run a mile, don't they?"

The chef said it was already having an impact on the children in her school.

"When there's new food, you can see their eyes light up," she said.

The chefs celebrated the completion of the course at an event held at the recently refurbished Abingdon Street Market.

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