Plant Based School Kitchens celebrates first school partnership in the UK

Plant Based School Kitchens (plantbasedschoolkitchens. co.uk) is hoping to make inclusive eating a reality, with their first school partnership announced. With this, the new enterprise is set to challenge the perception of school dinner catering across the UK.

After sampling Plant Based School Kitchens’ highly nutritious, plant-based menu backed by the Vegan Society, the teaching staff at Our Lady of Sion School in Worthing were impressed with the healthy dishes. This led them to seeking a partnership to ensure the school offered a new additional dining option for students to sit alongside packed lunches.

Gary Hardley of Plant Based School Kitchens explains: “With governments internationally encouraging a lower consumption of meat and an eco-friendlier way of growing and sourcing seasonal ingredients, there is a large demand to bring the increasingly popular plant-based diet into schools and other mainstream establishments. Ethical eating and farming are vital to the longevity of the planet and feeding children in schools has too often been about profit rather than nutrition. There is a growing body of evidence that a plant-based diet is one of the healthiest for children to grow up on, aiding academic performance through the provision of nutrient-rich meals. As such, it is the mission of our dedicated team of professional chefs and nutritionists to see a plant-based, gluten-free kitchen in every school.”

On the school lunch menu are generously sized dishes, giving students the choice from two different hot meals plus a cold lunchbox option. Dishes include toad in the hole with roasted potatoes, carrots and swede; teriyaki broccoli tofu with rice noodles or BBQ jackfruit jackets with salad.

Steven Jeffery, headteacher of Our Lady of Sion School adds: “As I considered the future of hot food for Sion, I was keen to find something exciting, attractive and good for our consumers and the planet. We are constantly developing our curriculum in response to world events and the positive changes within the attitudes and understanding around human rights and planet-health. As a place of education which works hard to prepare our young people for life in the real world, exploring plant-based meals is another facet of our ever-evolving education here at Sion.”

This is the first partnership of Plant Based School Kitchens’ UK roll-out of vegan school lunch operations across the UK.