Montpelier primary wins prize for imaginative dinners

Montpelier Primary School in Ealing has the most multicultural school dinner menu, a new audit of UK primary schools found.

Other schools ignore the opportunity to spice up their menus and inspire youngsters with varied meals. A survey of 5,000 youngsters revealed that Italian Spaghetti Bolognese is the most popular dish amongst UK youths.

5,000 children were surveyed and the audit, commissioned by kids cookery app Sara’s Cooking Class, assessed the ‘mileage’ schools totalled up on their weekly menus.

They looked at the diversity of recipes and the presence of plain or traditional dinners in the eating plans.

Roast dinners made it onto 80% of all weekly menus, despite the fact that dishes such as curry have become more popular than traditional English beef stew.

The audit’s findings show schools rely mostly on traditional English foods:

· Schools audited in Leeds and Manchester had menus entirely made up of English-only dishes

· Dishes made with non-traditional spices and flavours now make it onto only 53% of all weekly menus, showing that there’s still a way to go for schools to be more adventurous

· 66% of all schools surveyed keep up the tradition of serving fish on a Friday

The school on Montpelier Road in W5, won the award for its commitment to variety and creativity in the school dinner hall (including the likes of Thai green curry on their menu) and will receive a prize of cooking accessories for students to take home.

Monica Costa, parent and mummy blogger at London Mums Magazine, is happy to see that a London school won the prize: “I believe in healthy school dinners, and parents are now more aware of what their children are eating at school,” she said. “Eating meals at school together with fellow school friends is also very important to develop social skills.”

23rd January 2013