‘-I was driving to my mother’s home yesterday – she is still in a 
teenage tizz over the “dazzling doctor” who cared for her in hospital this week – and heard the Radio 4 Food Programme awards.
I was particularly impressed with an award made to catering manager Hugh MacLennan, from Ruislip High Secondary School, London.
From what I could gather, Hugh invites kids into the kitchens to see the food being prepared (hey, what about health and safety freaks!)
This school lesson may not be on the curriculum, but has won recognition for giving kids a new understanding and appreciation of food. It’s all about inclusion.
And with such a fantastic and varied menu – there’s always a home made soup of the day, followed by a choice of Pork Wellington, Chicken Chasseur, Mexican Bean Stew, Lamb Dansk or Spicy Meatballs – Hugh probably has a job throwing the kids out of his kitchen.
I notice there are no chips on the menu, but fresh vegetables, salads and potatoes cooked in various ways. It can be done.
It wasn’t so long ago we were told that some kids were so ignorant about food that one in 20 believed chips grew on farms. The same number had no idea where milk came from. That’s why this kind of inclusion is so valuable.
I would like to see schools which dish up such great food invite their local elderly along to join them at the dinner table once a week. That would ensure they had a square meal, as well as some social interaction. In fact, why not invite many different people from the community so they all gain a better understanding about each other and develop new relationships outside their normal comfort zone.
And that’s another valuable lesson ….
He certainly deserves the award. That’s a good idea about inviting the elderly but remember that schools have security issues now.
Corr blimey Elle,
you’ve hit the nail on the head in so many ways
Sadly as with so many things, whether education, health care, transport, community services and social care … there is never any joined up thinking.
Any community Centre will be looking after it’s own survival rather than how best to serve the community. Of course in an ideal world they’d both be One & the Same thing.
The same with school dinners, oh and what about CRC catering courses? – but I doubt those ‘charities’ with the meals on wheels contract would be that happy with the idea.
And I repeat any village Post Office, village Pub or village shop – not flexible enough to become a Three in One (no nothing to do with the holy Trinity) – doesn’t deserve to be subsidised or saved.
I would like to see schools teach cookery again. I’ve been informed that nowadays what is studied is called ‘nutrition management’ or ‘culinary arts’ or some such. It’s all geared towards commercial catering and covers health and safety legislation of a commercial food prep area, staff management issues and nutritional balance and menu planning.
Just teach children to cook.
We had to buy a basket and bring in ingredients each week and we cooked things using basic methods – the all-in-one method for a cake, a casserole, a shepherds pie, mince pies (shortcrust pastry), steak and kidney pie (puff pastry), a lemon merangue pie and a cheese souffle. All basic methods. And we learned not to mix raw meat and cooked meat. We unwittingly learned how to shop and what to eat.
This is important stuff that should be in schools, for both boys and girls.
A friend of mine runs a teaching establishment that teaches (urban) school parties about farming. Often it’s a shock to the children that the burger/meat they eat was once walking around and mooing and the milk they drink comes from a cows udder.