We always ensure that the children are made fully aware of the value of fish and vegetables in the diet and many of the children enjoyed the fish and the vegetables that they tried for the first time. We also discuss the value of immigration as the range of dishes now available to us is so diverse, as part of difference and diversity within the curriculum. The sessions also concentrate on encouraging children to be aware of where their food is coming from.
We began at St Joseph’s and were able to use their new kitchen. We introduced the children at year’s 5 and 6 to healthy local food. Our fruity pork chops were a great success, as were our leek and potato omelette, chunky vegetable soup and our char-grilled trout with watercress and tomatoes.
At Burton school they learnt about food from the Lakes and mountains and enjoyed making a Swiss cheese fondue, flat breads with Goats cheese, red onion and tomatoes and steamed trout fillets on a bed of Ratatouille.
At Somerford School the children particularly enjoyed learning about healthy local food and loved the fruity pork chops, a leek and potato omelette and chunky vegetable soup.
We then moved on to St Marks in Highcliffe where the children were studying ancient Greece for their project. The lamb Souvlakia proved to be the most popular dish with grilled Halloumi cheese served on an aubergine and tomato salad coming a close second. They also learnt about how the customs of the ancient Greeks and how they ate their meals.
Following a break for half term we went to Mudeford School where the year 5’s learnt about Lakes and Mountains. They have a lovely new food room there and so the children are well used to cooking and eating delicious food. Out new flatbread recipe was a great success as it can be cooked in a griddle pan.
We then spent three enjoyable days at Christchurch Junior School. Sadly large year groups mean that the children can’t do any cooking during our visits, so longer demonstrations and tastings were held for years 3 where they learnt about the customs of the ancient Egyptians and tasted food such as lemon and coriander houmous and a trout tagine all served with lots of vegetables.
Year 5 learned about the productivity and exports of Caribbean food and were introduced to a colourful array of tropical fruits and vegetables. We cooked Jerk salmon with a red cabbage and mango slaw, a warm salad of avocado, roast pepper and sweet potato and a pepper and squash curry.
Year 6 learnt about the customs of Greek food and tasted Souvlakia, Falafel, Grilled Halloumi and aubergine salad and white bean and vegetable soup.
Our final visits were to the Priory school in Christchurch. Years 3 and 4 had chosen to cook Italian food and following a talk and demonstration of fried red mullet with sweet and sour red onion and capers, the children cooked minestrone soup, broad bean, pea and asparagus risotto and made pasta tortellini with goats cheese.
On the second day we saw year 5 for our Lakes and mountains session and year 6 for food from volcanic areas. Having learnt about the problems of living in remote areas the children particularly enjoyed the white bean and vegetable soup and the trout fillets with ratatouille.
During the afternoon we had a visit from the Mayor of Christchurch Councillor Fred Neale and learnt about how well food grows in former volcanic areas. We cooked food from the area of Naples and the Canary Islands. We showed them a photo of a restaurant in Lanzarote that cooks directly on the heat of a former volcano. Later they tasted our red mullet dish and cooked aubergine burgers with a guacamole dip and a minestrone soup.
