Olympic athelete joins forces with Potato Council

Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle MBE
Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle MBE

Potato Council has added an exciting new dimension to its successful ‘Cook Your Own Potatoes’ project, with the introduction of a fantastic competition offering secondary schools the chance to win a visit from Olympic gymnast, Beth Tweddle MBE.

Known as ‘Britain’s greatest ever gymnast’ for her many medal successes, Beth has teamed up with Potato Council to support the Cook Your Own Potatoes (CYOP) project, which aims to communicate the health benefits of potatoes to children and encourage them to cook healthy balanced meals featuring potatoes.

In the new competition, Key Stage 3 pupils (aged 11 -14) are being encouraged to design an eye-catching poster on the theme of ‘Potato Power: Food for Sport’. Pupils can choose to feature any sport in their poster, but they must illustrate how potatoes fit into a healthy, balanced diet. The prize is a workshop session with Beth Tweddle MBE when she will explain to the winning school how potatoes fit into her training regime.

Potato Council education coordinator, Sue Lawton, said: “It’s a real privilege to have Beth at the forefront of the Cook Your Own Potatoes initiative and to lead our secondary school competition. I’m certain that her high profile will help encourage children to learn more about potatoes - from different varieties, uses, tastes and nutritional information.

“We’re calling on industry to get involved and help make the competition a huge success by encouraging local secondary schools to enter. You can help to build awareness for the Cook Your Own Potatoes competition by passing on details to friends and family members or direct to schools in your area. Alternatively, encourage them to visit the website for a host of information.”

Set up in 2011, the CYOP project provides much needed support for Food Technology teachers. Designed specifically to encourage Key Stage 3 pupils, the initiative aims to equip children with good habits for life – not just in terms of eating a well-balanced diet but using good value nutritional ingredients such as potatoes to develop tasty meals.

The educational project is also backed by a dedicated website (http://cyop.potato.org.uk/), which is regularly enhanced with a wide range of materials to help teachers deliver factual and engaging lessons and keep potatoes front of mind with teenagers.

Sue said: “It is important that as an industry we continue to invest in youngsters by giving them potato-knowledge and cooking skills that they will continue to use into adulthood.

“Communicating positive messages to youngsters about potatoes through our One Voice initiative is key to ensuring they remain a staple on British plates. By uniting as an industry and speaking with ‘One Voice’ to spread clear, simple and consistent messages about our crop, potatoes will increasingly be seen as a good food by youngsters.”

The One Voice initiative, which was launched at BP2013, calls on industry to work together to communicate positive messages about potatoes; namely that they are healthy, sustainable, versatile, affordable and an important contributor to the economy.