Lyndon has met many talented, passionate and dedicated people working to make school meals as healthy, fresh and delicious as possible while on his Fellowship tour. 🍎 Read his UK wrap up below ⬇ Thanks to Winston Churchill Trust (Australia) for making this possible! 🙏
Unpacking school lunch in the UK 🇬🇧 School lunches, or school dinners as they are called in the UK, were first introduced in 1906 to undernourished children and funded by local council rates. In 1944, as Britain and the Allies gained ascendancy in WW2, school dinners were made compulsory for all. A major part of the war effort was to maintain morale, and that, like many things couldn’t be achieved on an empty stomach. “Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.” Winston Churchill 🎩 However, the 1980s saw an increase in ‘fast-foods’ like chips, chicken nuggets and soft drinks being served. “In fact the 1980-2000 period is called the ‘no nutrition standards era’ for school meals.” Dr Lawrence Haddad In the 2000s, Jamie Oliver’s public and political advocacy for better school meals sparked a national conversation and ultimately a change of direction. The momentum of which continues today 🙌 “Kids are at school 190 days of the year. That’s a lot of meals and a big opportunity to have a positive impact. We can and we must do better. By looking after what our kids are eating at school, we’re giving them the best chance of thriving beyond.” Jamie Oliver 🥣 Since 2014, all UK children in the first three years of school are entitled to a free school lunch. Beyond this, families pay a subsidised fee, or the meals remain free for families below an earnings threshold. 🙌 In 2023 London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, extended the Free School Meals scheme for every primary school child in London for good. I was incredibly fortunate to meet and learn from the The Jamie Oliver Group, Stephanie Slater from School Food Matters, Sam Phillips and Sreshta Sridhar from Chefs in Schools, Pokesdown Community School and many more. This is my best shot at keeping this post “brief” 😅 🍎 School Food Matters educates children about food, runs excursions to farms, grows fruit and vegetables onsite at schools, teaches children how to cook, and captures the voices of children, parents and teachers to influence Government school food policy. 👨🍳 Chefs in Schools collaborates with passionate Principals and schools who want to level up their school lunch offering. They provide additional training to existing kitchen teams, help hire chefs to lead new programs, assist schools to identify what kitchen equipment they need and aspire to make colourful, flavourful, nutritious school food the norm. 🍽️ Pokesdown Community School in Bournemouth have transformed their school food offering in collaboration with Chefs In Schools. Chef Russ was hired after returning home to the UK after a decade working in a 5 star hotel in South Africa. The school’s broom cupboard was transformed into “Pokey Kitchen”. Russ and Sous Chef, Andrew prove you don’t need a massive kitchen to create massive positive impact - a major inspiration for our aspirations in Australia. 360+ meals are made from scratch daily (even the bread!) using fresh, seasonal and local ingredients.