When my eldest son (now 10) started attending primary school, the meals which included some junk food and sweet biscuits appalled me. All my hard work of cooking healthy, freshly cooked food at home was pointless. I could not let it happen without reacting.
After a while and for a short period I started preparing packed lunches but gave up very soon because my son started asking me to include junk food that he knew from TV adverts or from other children's lunch-boxes which I refused to buy. Also it was winter then and I preferred him eating warm. Instead I started inquiring about the food on a regular basis, finding out about other schools, boring my friends to death at dinner parties and slowly came to the conclusion that something had to be done.
Two years ago, we approached our Caterers because our children did not get enough on their plates, and asked Initial Catering to just supply us with one main meal and one vegetarian option. We did not want choice. When you cook at home, you don't dish up a choice of food, you cook one main meal, this makes sense and it is cost effective to do the same at school.
The food supplied was, let us say "satisfactory", although I did not like the looks of the reconstituted meat. As Initial Catering was clearly making an effort I decided to wait as I did not quite know how to tackle this issue. Two months ago both my boys started complaining about the quality this time, not the quantity of their school meals. Soon after Jamie Oliver's TV campaign started and brought it to the political arena. I decided to seize this opportunity to lobby our local Labour MP, Roger Casale. He has seen me twice and encouraged me to take the matter further.
Being half French I have contacted a friend in France who is a Headmistress who gave me a good insight of what happens there as well as a recent study of the French equivalent of the "Which?" magazine, naming and shaming the best and worst school dinners in France. What goes on over there, is quite similar to here. The gap can be very wide, there are very poor meals and very gastronomic ones. The cost of the ingredients varies from 70p to £2.20.
Here, I have spoken with caterers, dinner ladies, teachers, headteachers in the state system as well as the private sector, parents, many children, read extensively about the matter. I have studied excellent school menus in which the cost of the ingredients varies from 60p to 70p per child.
These are my suggestions because I am a mother and I care:
1) THE CHILDREN
Many dedicated dinner ladies do know what the children want to eat, others need to be trained: pasta dishes, shepherd's pies, lasagne, rice dishes, salads, cucumber, chocolate puddings, custard, yoghurts, apple crumble, bananas, oranges and tinned peaches.
If the food tastes good, children will eat it. I believe that children will prefer healthy food to junk food if they know it tastes better. Children copy one another. If they see other children eat something and like it, they will go for it too.
2) THE COUNCILDedicated, independent, professional food buyers must be employed by Local and Central Government to ensure contract bribery does not happen with service providers.
Tax efficient investment programmes and capital allowances have to be implemented to assist installing new equipment in kitchens and in some cases, building new kitchens.
The tax paid on school meals and generated by contracting companies has to be ring-fenced and reinvested into the quality of the food and the salary of the dinner ladies.
Parents should get tax deductions on school dinner money.
Children's health and well-being are not just determined by market forces and the best tender price!
School meals should not be considered as a profit making business.
3) THE SCHOOLS
New equipment is installed to enable staff to cook on the premises. Research has shown that it is more cost effective to cook from fresh. This avoids transport, storage, refrigerating and re-heating costs. Frequently, dinner ladies waste time on the phone complaining that not enough of a food item has been supplied. Considering that the main concern for catering companies to win a tender is a matter of cost, it is not surprising that some will want to opt out completely of the school meals business. The raging debate does not give them a good publicity either.
At present, the food gets supplied the day before and stored in freezers and refrigerators, hence the children never eat fresh. The only fresh food they get is the fruit supplied by Merton Council which is actually very good.
4) US, THE PARENTS
Teach children to respect food, sit down with them and show them how to use a knife and fork. Cook them meals from fresh similar to what Jamie Oliver was cooking in his programme. What he was cooking had nothing fancy. It is basic. Give your children water from the tap. Parents, don't cook separately for your children, when they are babies, give them the same food as you eat but in a pureed form, it educates their tastebuds at a very young age. Don't buy baby food even when traveling, mashed bananas are excellent for babies. Buy the less sweetened yoghurts or mix them with natural ones and add some mashed fruit into them. Don't be put off by glossy magazines featuring 20 ingredients for 1 recipe. Cooking is not a matter of fashion. Use 5 ingredients at the most. If you are fortunate enough like me to have a butcher down your road, go and sample his meat and taste the difference. I know it takes time to make the extra way every week rather than to buy everything at the supermarket (I work myself and time is precious), but it is good to support local shops.
WE ARE ALL FAILING OUR CHILDREN. FOOD IS NOT A LUXURY ITEM. THE RIGHT TO HEALTHY FOOD IS LIKE THE RIGHT TO DRINKING PURE WATER OR THE RIGHT TO BREATHE UNPOLLUTED AIR.
Our world has gone a step too far. Let's reflect and change things back to where they were 15 years ago. It is not a massive cost, it is only a matter of goodwill and perseverance. Read about Jeannette Orrey in Nottinghamshire who was the one who made Jamie Oliver aware of what is going on in schools. She has been spending the last 7 years trying to change tastebuds at St Peter's Primary School in Nottinghamshire. She has set up a school for dinner ladies and has written a book of recipes called the Dinner Lady.
Read about Camden where schools have opted out of the Catering Contract. Do you know that in Merton, Initial Catering has recently started a wonderful scheme whereby Bishop Gilpin in Wimbledon is supplied with fresh food which is cooked on the premises. The Chef is a hero, the number of children eating his meals has increased from 94 to 324 in a few months, teachers sit down and eat with the children. Initial Catering is now studying a way with a group of 10 schools to implement this scheme across our borough. St Matthews Cof E Primary and Hollymount in Raynes Park are part of them.
Vending machines of junk food will have to go. Children will have to learn to drink water only. It will be good for obesity and good for the environment (less rubbish in the bins for our dump!)
Existing nutritional standards for meals must be upgraded by professionals immediately. Some of the processed, reconstituted and salty foods served in schools should just not be allowed anywhere near a school kitchen! The same applies to all areas catering for children, museums, sports clubs, leisure centres.
Guess what? Children's concentration and SATS results would improve! Diseases like cancer, stomach, bowel problems, asthma, food allergies would be significantly reduced. I am sure, I have heard this as being an objective somewhereŠ The saving on the National Health would be significant. People must be taught that good, fresh food directly correlates to their health and general well-being and future quality of life.
So why are we failing our children? Apathy is not a way forward.
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