It was a hat trick this week for Norse Catering when it served up a third delicious, Canaries-inspired, school meal to youngsters across Norfolk and Suffolk.
Thousands of school children sat down to Tim Krul’s Veggie Sausage, Red Lentil and Tomato Stew yesterday for this latest high-scoring helping of Active Canaries Health Month
On Thursdays throughout March, Norse Catering has teamed up with Norwich City Football Club to offer the pupils a different dish inspired by a Premier League football player.
The aim of each green and yellow meal is to ignite the interest of the young diners, showing them that healthy food can be fun.
And those at West Earlham Junior School in Norwich were certainly won over.
Freddie, eight years old, said: “The stew is delicious. I give it 1000 out of 100! The apple cake is really nice, it tastes like a melted apple!”
Kian, also eight, added: “I love today’s menu, it’s my favourite so far – but I can’t wait for Teemu Pukki’s week next Thursday!”
Created by City’s first team nutritionist Tom Geeson-Brown and chef Daniel Savage,
and cooked by Norse Catering, the month-long programme has been a huge crowd pleaser.
Children have also already enjoyed Dimitris Giannoulis’s Greek Chicken Flatbread and Josh Sargent’s Mac ‘n’ Cheese and still have Teemu Pukki’s Finnish Fish Pie Pasta Bake to come.
After each lunch, they are given cards to take home to help them shop for ingredients and make the recipes themselves with their parents.
Donna Amiteye, Norse Catering’s Cook Manager at the school, said: “The children here are really enjoying the Active Canaries promotion.
“I am so pleased that they are trying new foods. Our meal numbers have been higher than usual during this promotion, which means we have some children taking part who don’t normally have school meals.
“Quite a few children have said they are excited to try the recipes at home with their parents, which is so encouraging to hear as it is clearly making a positive impact on them.
“I run cookery workshops with children at the West Earlham schools, so I know from experience we have some very keen little cooks!”
Norse Catering’s meals are always carefully planned and prepared to ensure they are nutritious and well balanced, but the campaign has been designed to further highlight the importance of healthy eating to the youngsters.
Some 70 of Norse Catering’s schools are participating in the event, which is backed by the Canaries Covid-19 Community Fund and complemented by special school assemblies.
Cira Leeder, Business Account Manager with Norse Catering’s Menu Development Team, said: “This project has been really interesting to be a part of and has given us a fascinating insight into what the players eat to help their performance.
“We took the original recipes from Daniel Savage and the team at NCFC and trialled them with some of our school cooks to see what would work operationally across our sites.
“We also looked at any adjustments we needed to make to the ingredient lists or to the methods, as all school kitchens vary in size and capacity.”
She added: “Today’s school meal was just another example of what a successful promotion Active Canaries Health Month has been.”
