i. Examples of how the winning schools participated last year when we challenged them to design and cook a meal using the minimum number of food miles!

Pupils from Mosstodloch Primary School in Moray leapt at the chance to go scrumping in their teacher’s garden just three miles from the school.  They then borrowed the school kitchen to make apple and plum crumble.  The following day the crumbles were served in school and also made up part of the menu for their local Meals on Wheels.

Wilson’s Endowed CE School in Carnforth threw themselves into the Challenge.  They organised a ‘Bring a Friend to Lunch’ Day and baking days using fruit from a local fruit farm.  The After School Club made a vegetable casserole using locally sourced ingredients, including some from the school’s garden, that was served at their Harvest Supper.  Celebrity chefs the Hairy Bikers and Michelin-starred chef Nigel Howarth lent their support to the activities.

Cummersdale Primary School in Carlisle prepared a menu in which none of the ingredients came from more than 20 miles away.  Andrew Burton, Head Chef of the Rothay Garden Hotel, Grasmere, spent two days with the school showing them how to prepare the dishes and organising a ‘big chop’.  67 children chopped vegetables for soups and casseroles.

Stenton Primary School in East Lothian managed to produce a menu with ZERO food miles (so no salt in the cooking).  They then cooked it for their ex-Headteacher to celebrate her 70th birthday.  The fruit and vegetables all came from pupils’ gardens and farms and some delicious trout was supplied by a mother who works at a local fish farm.

Godwin Primary School in Dagenham visited local allotments that had agreed to donate eggs, fruit and vegetables.  Their menu had 24½ food miles.  24 of these miles were for the bread flour donated by Marriage’s Flour in Chelmsford.

Randolph Beresford Early Years Centre in West London proved that urban schools can compete just as easily as those in the country by only using vegetables grown in their own school garden for their menu of Pumpkin and Rosemary Soup and Vegetable Stew.

More than 400 pupils from Liberton Primary School in Edinburgh took part, preparing and cooking healthy, delicious dishes.  They sourced British ingredients, Scottish where possible, and used vegetables from their own school vegetable plot.

Thinking about a locally sourced meal triggered work across all years at St Francis CE Primary School in Cowley.  From Year 1 discovering that vegetables do not just come from supermarkets to Year 6 finding out about new foods that arrived in England during the Tudor times.  They then made vegetable soup and bread using vegetables from local gardens and flour from a local mill.  As a result, the School Governors are now considering more positively a request for a school allotment and a designated cooking area.
 

In secondary schools

Killicomaine Junior High School in Northern Ireland spent one week debating the term ‘food miles’ and a second week cooking their favourite dishes and calculating the food miles incurred.  Two of the dishes were calculated to within 2½ miles!  Their Geography teacher said “An excellent competition that highlights the advantages to the environment of buying local produce and in season ingredients. ”.

ARAMARK chef Gary Bolton spent two days at Oakwood High School in Eccles giving cookery lessons to Years 7-11 and also to a group of retired men who attend a weekly cookery class at the school!  On Day One the groups compared a homemade Shepherd’s Pie to a shop-bought one and on Day Two they focused on British puddings served with custard, again comparing a homemade variety with a shop-bought custard.

Pupils at King James 1st Community College in Country Durham produced a menu with a total of 4½ miles.  The practical cooking lessons were an opportunity to talk about shopping wisely, the Red Tractor mark, nutritional values, 5 A DAY and food miles.

Greencroft Community School visited Durham Farmers Market.  The children had to compare prices before deciding where to do their shopping.  Back at school they made a rabbit casserole using rabbits supplied by a pupil’s grandfather!  The pupils also used the Challenge as the basis of a survey with local butchers to find out where their produce has come from and how many miles it has travelled. 

Bemrose School in Derby has 48 different nationalities, but still managed to produce a menu with no air miles! 

A permanently excluded pupil on a 1:1 learning programme used the Challenge to visit a local supermarket and check where food comes from.  This project helped him work independently and improve literacy, numeracy and humanities skills.  He then used the food he bought to cook and serve a vegetable soup and bread lunch to six staff and pupils.

The overall winners of the 2008 Challenge, Hawarden High School in Flintshire created a number of different menus using as much local produce as possible and then chose a final menu based on ‘Yummy’ ratings.  With a bit of substitution and imagination they managed to reduce the food miles of their winning menu by an amazing 95%.  For example, they replaced the vanilla in the ice cream with local honey, used local gooseberries in place of an orange in the main course and exchanged cane sugar for home-produced beet sugar.  The pupils even made their own Welsh Acorn Coffee to end the meal!

Beaumont Hill School pupils used local farms, allotments and Darlington’s Indoor Market to source ingredients for making healthy meals in their ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ after-school club.

Danesgate Pupil Support Centre in York used the Challenge as an opportunity to discuss the implications of food miles.  They also planned a meal around their own produce supplemented by purchases from a local wholefood shop and a farm roadside cart. 

Alderman Knight School in Tewkesbury celebrated British Food Fortnight by sharing a harvest lunch and displaying local fresh produce.  KS2 sang a harvest song and KS4 pupils spent their cookery lesson preserving beetroot and pickling onions.  Local celebrity chef, Rob Rees, visited the school to do a cookery demonstration using local produce.  Pupils could smell and touch the ingredients and were encouraged to ask questions about food and cooking. 

Pathways Special School in Castleford looked at, smelt and tasted a selection of locally produced fresh vegetables provided by the local Primary Care Trust.  They then used the vegetables to make a delicious vegetable soup.

Alexandra Special Needs School in South Harrow held a very visual assembly using a map to show the different impact on the environment of apples picked from their own apple tree and those flown in from another country.  The Challenge made the concept of food miles easily accessible to all the children.

Children from East Hartford Primary School in Northumberland invited their parents and friends to a school assembly based on the song ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’ showing where meat and milk comes from.  A bacon, sausage and egg breakfast followed.  The children learned about the important ecological benefits to be gained from the local sourcing of food

Willersey CofE Primary School in Broadway avoided ingredients that were not grown or processed near the village and so decided against using flour-based recipes and used honey rather than sugar.  But they still managed to produce a four-course meal.  The school does not have cooking facilities so the cookery club is run in the village hall by parents and members of the village community. 

Hanover Primary School in Islington showed it had ‘True Brit’ by celebrating British Food Fortnight with an Autumn Food Fair.  Shop-bought goods were banned and the stalls heaved with delicious, local produce, all made by the children, their parents or carers.  A local supermarket generously donated a box of food as a prize for the Name that Vegetable competition.  Hanover’s resident chickens were so excited by all the events they produced their first egg!

Bury CE (Aided) First School in Pulborough spent a day cooking with local chef and food writer Rosemary Moon.  The children worked in groups, together with their parents, to make a variety of seasonal dishes using locally sourced produce.

ii. Comments from teachers and chefs who took part last year

“British Food Fortnight’s website is a wonderful resource!  Saved me hours of work this weekend - thank you.”
Subscriber to TES

“The class teacher and pupils had a great time making soups, smoothies and omelettes for British Food Fortnight. Thanks for creating such a great competition.”
Ian Jones, Headteacher, Ysgol San Sior, Conwy Wales

“As always, the British Food Fortnight resources are fantastic.”
Jo Matthews, School Meals Development Officer, Wolverhampton City Council

“There was a real buzz around the school for the whole Fortnight. ” Mrs Kelsey, Teacher, Sutton Benger C of E Aided School

“For chefs, helping teach children how to cook during British Food Fortnight is great because it allows you to see things from another perspective.”
Daniel James, Head Chef, The Copthorne Hotel, Cardiff, who worked with pupils from Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr

“It was a brilliant fortnight and all our children were able to gain valuable life skills and learn where their food comes from.”  Alexandra Special School, South Harrow

“Every year we send 50 chefs into schools to give children cooking lessons during British Food Fortnight.  The chefs enjoy it, schools love it and our clients are very supportive.”
Frazer Rendell, Director, ARAMARK food service organisation

“Pupils really enjoyed participating in the ‘Cook for Life’ Challenge and cooking their meal.  Thank you for the opportunity to participate.”
W McQueen, Teacher, Killicomaine Junior High School, Craigavon, N. Ireland

“There was a lovely atmosphere in the school and I have already had people ask when we will be doing it again.”
Lorna Watson, Deputy Headteacher, St Marks Primay School, Hadlow Down, whose pupils invited elderly members of the community to join them for tea.

“Every pupil loved taking part in British Food Fortnight!”
Ashley Drummond, Pinewood School, West Lothian

“We had a fantastically successful British Food Fortnight – the number of children eating school meals doubled in some schools!”
Sue Edridge, Food with Thought Development Manager, Oxfordshire County Council