Another point Grant makes, in terms of broadening childrens palates, is that watching their friends eat new things is likely to influence a child to have a try, too, making cooking, and nutrition, subjects that necessarily should be in schools, and not be relegated to the home. She recalls a recent interaction at Cook School with a child with a food phobia who touched a cherry tomato for the first time.
The programme should be in all schools. But due to lack of resources - funds - and knowing how to do it, plus lack of time, this doesnt happen. Thats what were here to help with, she explains.
The main financial barrier, Grant says, is the cost of ingredients. With Zanussis financial support, she expects to expand into more schools next year, so the programme will reach 30,000 children by the end of 2020.
Embedded in this school cookery lesson and after-school programme is an outreach to parents: when the children I observed had finished their falafel mixing, their little balls went into the oven to eat later, and the children were set some homework. They were to go home and write a recipe for another healthy vegetarian packed lunch menu. And the stakes are high: the winner at each school will not only be given a family day at Chessington World of Adventures, but their family will be given a new Zanussi oven. Its a slick branding opportunity, to be sure, but that didnt stop the children from cheering. And by dangling this impressive financial incentive (new Zanussi ovens start at 199 at John Lewis), the programme is likelier to reach parents, making the project a family dietary makeover, not just a fun take-it-or-leave-it lesson at school.
Excerpt from:
The way to tackle the child obesity epidemic? Teach cooking in schools - Telegraph.co.uk
