Tasty lessons

Headmaster Richard Jones held up a chocolate bar and then an apple as he asked the 200 primary school children assembled in the main hall of Hagbourne School which he should eat for breakfast. Their eyes lit up when they were shown the big bar of milk chocolate - it was clear many thought it an obvious choice - but they finally give a show of hands for the apple.

The children were taking part in a healthy eating programme organised at the school, in East Hagbourne, near Didcot. by Emma Watts-Lay, from Upton, and other parents and teachers hoping to encourage children to eat more fruits and vegetables. They have named the campaign Tasty Tuesdays, because each Tuesday throughout this term parents will cut up fruit and vegetables and offer pieces to each class. All children prepared to taste the food will be rewarded with a sticker for their wall charts. Prizes will be given to classes as they complete their charts. The children are also being asked to bring in a piece of fruit or vegetable for their morning break.

My task was to speak to the children during their Tasty Tuesday's launch and do what I could to encourage them to be adventurous and try fruits and vegetables they have never tasted before. I was also asked to explain the importance of eating at least five different fruits and vegetables each day, which is now the amount recommended to help prevent heart disease, cancer and reduce symptoms of childhood asthma.

Emma had asked me to stress the health issue as health-related behaviour patterns and attitudes to food can be acquired in childhood and the lessons stay with children for years to come. She also pointed out that a Department of Health trial showed that some children overcame a reluctance to eat fruit as a result of seeing their classmates enjoying it.

At the moment, many children in the UK are only eating two portions of fruit or vegetables a day, and a recent DoH survey showed that one in five of all four- to 18-year-olds eat no fruit at all.

And so I stood there in the school hall, surrounded by parents and children, many of whom had gone to the trouble of dressing up as fruit and vegetables. There was a mother dressed in a giant sweetcorn costume one side of me, and another resembled a carrot. Others standing in the far corner with branches sticking out of their heads were disguised as apple trees. Several children were dressed as tomatoes, and large plaques showing the colours of the fruits we eat decorated the hall. In the centre, a large table groaned with produce supplied by a nearby supermarket.

It all looked very colourful, but what really caught attention was the intense way the children watched the launch unfold. It was as if they really did want to learn everything they could about the fruit that had been brought in to help them launch their first Tasty Tuesday.

Perhaps this is because Hagbourne School has a large green flag hanging in the playground, which signifies they have earned a gold award for being Oxfordshire's only eco school, where teaching about sustainability and looking after both yourself and the world are an important part of the curriculum. They even have a compost bin in the playground for children to deposit their apple cores and banana skins.

Richard Jones explained that the Tasty Tuesdays are a natural extension of all that they do at the school already. He and the staff are endeavouring to educate the future generation. Some of the older children may be parents themselves in less than a decade.

Three weeks have passed since the launch and please forgive the pun, but they have been very fruitful weeks. Richard said: "The children's response has been quite remarkable. It was a pilot scheme - a great leap in the dark - but our research shows that, so far, we have had 100 per cent take up. The broccoli and parsnips among the products supplied by Asda for our launch were cooked the next day and the children ate them for lunch.

"For many, it would have been the first time that they had tasted a roasted parsnip and broccoli, but they did try it and they actually enjoyed the experience. There were certainly none left at the end of the lunch."

The tastings include quite strong flavoured vegetables like celery which is often rejected by children and there are plans to include fresh capsicums shortly.

Richard said: "The children have been really excited about these new tastes, which they will go on experiencing throughout the school year."

I was delighted to discover there's also a glimmer of hope that these children will get excited about preparing their own meals too. Usborne Publishing, which specialises in children's cookery books, kindly donated several that could be placed in the school library or handed out during the Tasty Tuesday launch. They included: Internet-Linked Children's World Cookbook (£9.99), which explains where ingredients and recipes come from, and a great little book called Cooking for Beginners (£4.99), which was eagerly snapped up by the youngsters as it contained some really delicious recipes.

Several of the mothers said their children really did enjoy helping in the kitchen so these books would be read and used with enthusiasm.

As an extra incentive, Oxfordshire's Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc has kindly offered to cook a special meal for seven of the children (one from each class) at the Petit Blanc brasserie, Walton Street, Oxford, later in the year, where he will talk to them about the joys of eating and cooking with fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables.

So with schools like this taking healthy food seriously, perhaps the future is not so bleak after all?

Published in The Oxford Times on October 11, 2002