Food for Thought At British Food Fortnight

Photo: Getting to Grips with Goat Milking are Conor Hawkins and Ellie Jobson both aged 10 of New Park Primary School, Harrogate

Lunch was top of the timetable for children from a Harrogate primary school as they tucked into a healthy meal made from local produce at the Great Yorkshire Showground yesterday (September 27). The event was part of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society's support for British Food Fortnight, a national campaign promoting healthy eating.

The 110 Key Stage II pupils from New Park School included four 20-minute workshops looking at different aspects of where our food comes from, followed by lunch.

The event is part of work carried out year round by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to encourage youngsters to eat healthily, to try and eat local food where possible and to increase their understanding of the important role farming plays in food production.

Hazel Baker, the Society's Education Adviser said: "This is just one of several events we hold during the year to promote the benefits of British farming. The focus of the lunch, and the Countryside Days we held earlier this year which was attended by over 5,000 schoolchildren, is to make the children really think about where their food comes from and help them make choices that benefit both their health and the local farming industry."

The day's workshops featured:

Fish as a Great Dish, where Jonathan Batchelor of Ramus Seafoods talked about the wide range of fish available, demonstrated how to fillet a fish and told the children how he regarded fish fingers in the same way as chef Jamie Oliver famously viewed Turkey Twizzlers!

Goats' Milk and Healthy Eating - Sarah Kalkowski of Hazel Brow Farm, Richmond, which works in conjunction with Askham Bryan College, talked on the merits of goats' milk, explained how cheese, butter and other dairy products were made and demonstrated how to milk a goat - before letting the children have a go themselves.

Cereals and Crops - George Hamilton, Regional Programme Director of the Society's Growing Routes initiative, spoke about the role of cereals and crops in our day to day lives, the foods in which they were used and their health benefits. Children could also examine the 'raw materials' as well as the familiar foods they became.

Fruit and Vegetables - Michael Whiteley of Direct Food Supplies, who supplies fresh produce to St Aidan's School in Harrogate, showed the pupils a vast array of fruit and vegetables, explaining how it was an important fuel for their bodies and emphasising the 'five-a-day' message. Children had the chance to sample many of the foods on display - discovering some new favourites in the process!

After the workshops, the children, their teachers and helpers, tucked into a mouth-watering meal of chicken casserole with minted new potatoes, followed by cheesecake topped with a raspberry coulis.

The lunch was cooked by Simon Partridge, chef at St Aidan's CE School in Harrogate. The school is renowned nationally for its commitment to using good quality food, local where possible, and was one of the first in the country to be awarded the Government's National Healthy Schools Status.

Summing up the event Mrs Baker said:" "It's been very successful as the children have all seemed genuinely interested in learning more about the food they eat..It was a real experience for some of them, for example, to see a whole fish and all the different varieties which are available - a far cry from the fish fingers many of them are used to!

"Similarly, learning about wheat and seeing the different grains in the Cereals and Crops workshop helped them make the connection between that and what many of them eat for breakfast every morning."