Pink Custard On Saturday 13 June, Cheltenham College sponsored ‘Pink Custard’, an informative debate about school food at the Cheltenham Food and Drink Festival in Montpellier Gardens. The talk brought together industry experts from Gloucestershire including College’s Domestic Bursar, Mr Andrew Hailes; Education Account Manager at Creed Foodservice, Mr Chris Godfrey; Nutritionist, Ms Katie Brighton-Jones; Catering Manager at Hesters Way Primary School, Ms Natalie Percival and Head of Catering and Hospitality at Gloucestershire College, Mr Gareth Crwys-Williams.
Ms Marianne Sweet, an editor of two education magazines, including A+ Education, published by Cotswold Life, chaired the talk. The debate delved into the world of catering in education and discussed the revolution that is happening in our school dining halls, the changes and trends that are coming into place, and the biggest challenges for both caterers and parents. It explored the different offerings between the state and independent sector and the roles that schools and parents play in teaching healthy eating to children. All speakers agreed that the best way to tackle childhood obesity is to teach children how to cook, and Nutritionist, Ms Katie Brighton-Jones, argued that healthy eating should be taught as part of the curriculum.
Vegetarian Week
Foodworks
Monday 18 to Sunday 24 May was National Vegetarian Week, a campaign to encourage the nation to eat more vegetarian food to benefit their health, the environment and animal welfare.
The cookery course at Foodworks was extremely enjoyable and provided everyone with more confidence to cook independently.
Mr Mike Rooke, College’s Executive Head Chef commented, “The theme for Vegetarian Week was sharing food around the table with friends, for example, having olives and garlic bread on the tables, when pupils arrived”: It is important to include the right balance of protein in a meal, and College cooked three delicious options: Quorn meatballs in tomato and basil sauce with penne pasta, jambalaya and sweet potato, chickpea and spinach casserole.
We have made lots of new and exciting dishes, and learnt new techniques, including plaiting pastry on a giant sausage roll and kneading bread.
Mr Andrew Hailes commented, “This is the first year we have been involved in the Food and Drink Festival; food, and the wellbeing of pupils, is something we really care about at Cheltenham College and it is great to see this featuring more in the public eye.” My favourite dish of the week was the roast beef. It was full of flavour and the Yorkshire puddings with onion gravy were delicious. I would recommend the course to anyone who loves food and wants to learn new skills. It has been such a great bonding exercise with a variety of people in my year group and I have enjoyed spending time with them outside College. We are all now feeling very large from so much food!
Georgia Whittal (5th, A)
The Quorn meatballs were the most popular option with students commenting that they couldn’t always tell that it wasn’t meat. The Jambalaya and sweet potato, chickpea, and spinach casserole are also a great source of protein, dietary fibre and minerals such as iron, phosphorus, zinc and vitamins. College has found this initiative has lasting effects; after introducing the special menu for Vegetarian Week the uptake of the vegetarian dish increases throughout the rest of the term.
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