Farewell to the deep-fat frier
V IT IS not only the kitchen and dining room at Naima JPS that is new this term. The menu at the Maida Vale prep school has got a makeover, too.
Nutritionist Samantha Josephs has been called in to lead a healthier-eating programme, running workshops for children last week and encouraging changes in the kitchen.
“Some of the mums thought the lunches weren’t quite as healthy as they could be and they wanted to improve the nutritional content of the food,” she said.
A daily salad bar is one innovation and a fruit platter is now always on the table.
“We are cutting red meat to once a week and processed meat such as cold cuts or sausages is off altogether. Breaded goujons or schnitzels are oven-baked rather than fried — the deep-fat frier is gone from the kitchen.
“We’re substituting white bread, rice and pasta with the wholemeal variety. We’ve been reducing the sugar content of some of the cakes and tried to make sure desserts feature some fruit — such as apple crumble, or carrot cake, or a brownie that has beetroot in it.”
She says she has loved walking around at lunch and seeing how keen some children are to show their “rainbow on a plate” with their salad choices. “Some boys tried mushrooms in the salad which they hadn’t tried before — only one spat it out!”
The pasta change is being done gradually, with half white, half wholemeal at first. “The younger ones didn’t know the difference, they wolfed it down.”
And this week was the first “No Meat Monday” when children have a choice of such dishes as Asian-style vegetable stir fries, beanburgerss or Mexican beans in tortilla.
Rossana Shokrian, who has two children at the school, was one of those pressing for dietary development. “People don’t like change — it takes time but Samantha is instilling a sense of confidence in parents. It’s helping kids to open their minds and try something new and working with the chef to rethink how she is doing things.”
In her educational sessions with younger groups, Mrs Josephs has focused on eating a “rainbow variety of fruits and vegetables” and the importance of five portions of them a day.
She uses games such as asking the children to identify from touch vegetables in different colour bags, surprising them with purple carrots or yellow courgettes.
Older groups have been learning about the value of anti-oxidants or why fibre is good for the microbiome —residence of microbes — or what she calls “the gut garden”.
A handbook for parents says that the rising tide of chronic ill-health in Britain can be linked to bad diets.
“Healthy kids are happy kids,” they are advised.