Thousands of children across Norfolk and Suffolk sat down to green and yellow Norwich City themed lunches yesterday when Norse Catering teamed up with Norwich City Football Club.
Created by City’s first team nutritionist Tom Geeson-Brown and chef Daniel Savage
and cooked by school meal provider Norse Catering, the first dish to come into play was Dimitris Giannoulis’s Greek Chicken Flatbread.
And, according to Debbie Horth, Norse Catering Cook Manager at participating school Mousehold Infant and Nursery, in Norwich, it went straight to the back of the net.
“Today’s school dinner has been so exciting – the children loved their yellow and green food and are so excited to be taking recipe cards home with them,” she said.
“As an NCFC season ticket holder myself, I thoroughly enjoyed preparing and serving food that the players would usually eat when training.”
The Active Canaries campaign sees pupils from 70 participating Norse Catering schools dine every Thursday this month on dishes inspired by the national cuisines of some of City’s top players.
Yet to be served up are Teemu Pukki’s Finnish Fish Pie Pasta Bake, Josh Sargent’s American Mac ‘n’ Cheese and Tim Krul’s Veggie Sausage, Red Lentil and Tomato Stew.
Youngsters are also given menu cards to take home at the end of the day to help them shop for ingredients and make the recipes themselves at home.
And certainly those from Mousehold Infants declared their flatbreads to be winners.
Harrison Golder, aged seven, said: “I like the meal because it’s healthy. The flatbread was my favourite. I’m going to collect all the players cards.”
And Amelia Lake, aged six, said: “I love the vegetables – they taste sweet and crunchy.”
Lily Mellet, aged seven, added: “I’m going to ask my mum to cook the recipe tonight for dinner!”
Norse Catering, part of the Norse Group, provides nutritional meals to almost 200 schools in Norfolk and Suffolk, with more than 75% of the food it served prepared from scratch.
All meat is sourced from within East Anglia and is Red Tractor assured, certifying it to rigorous standards; fruit and vegetables are seasonal and locally grown, where possible.
The team worked closely with Norwich City to ensure all the Active Canaries Health Month meals were nutritionally balanced and adhered to school food standards.
Andrew Lipscomb, Operations Director at Norse Catering, said: “A great deal of time and effort goes into creating our normal nutritional meals, but this was even more of a challenge.
“In preparation for Teemu Pukki’s Cocoa Banana Bread on week four, for example, our suppliers have increased our order of bananas to 4,500 just for the recipe!
He added: “We are very excited to be working with Norwich City Football Club and its Premier League players.
“Our emphasis is always on serving nutritious meals, but this highlights the importance of healthy eating to the children in a way they can really relate to.
“These footballers are their heroes; if the children have more of an understanding of the kinds of dishes they eat in order to retain their peak fitness levels, then it will help them to realise that food can be fun, as well as healthy.”
Rebecca Westall, Headteacher at Mousehold Infant and Nursery School, added: “This is a great initiative for our families and school community to be involved in.
“We prioritise healthy living within our curriculum and this initiative will support families at home too.
“Our community is fabulous and anything where we work together as a big team has great impact.”
The Active Canaries programme is backed by the Canaries Covid-19 Community Fund, which was created in 2020 by donations from first team players, senior staff, and directors to support the community response and recovery to the pandemic.
