We recognise that teaching children and increasingly their parents, about food and enthusing them about healthy eating is crucial in changing poor dietary habits. Under the Eat Learn Live programme, adapted by the UK business from the successful programme in the US, our schools business, Scolarest, have launched various initiatives to address this issue.
In 2009, our UK Chartwells business celebrated National School Meals week by holding a ‘Meet the Grower’ day for over 180 primary school children in Sheffield. This interactive event introduced the children to the importance of fresh, healthy food including the chance for them to look at how food is produced, learn what should be on their plate to ensure a healthy diet and discover what happens to food waste and leftover school meals.
The day included a ‘hands on’ approach to the learning as children were shown not only how Wensleydale cheese is made but to touch and feel the cheese at different stages of production. They were also able to get stuck in to some organic burger production as they mixed organic meat and onion together by hand. One of Chartwells’ nutritionists also held an interactive session with the children focused on the nutritional benefits of different foods.
The session in Sheffield follows the successful ‘Meet the Grower’ days held in Lewisham, London in 2008 involving over 350 primary school children.