Isabelle Graham, Stephen Conway and Christopher Morgan-Smith

School pupils' seal of approval

21st July 2009, 11:18am

Stephen Conway, head chef at Stapleford Park, has impressed Leicestershire school pupils with his new menu additions.

Conway was called in by the county's School Food Support Service (SFSS) – responsible for the catering of 240 schools across the county since 2008 – to wake up their menu offering.

The chef created the new dishes at Stapleford Park where he tested them out among a panel of judges, primary school children from Waltham on the Wolds – accompanied by representatives of SFSS as well as EBLEX and school caterers.

Samples included a light bite of lamb koftas; flatbread and salad; and a main course of traditional roast beef with sweet potato mash, red cabbage and green beans.

Ten-year-old judge Isabelle Graham says: "The food looked really nice: I liked the bright colours of the vegetables. The texture of the lamb was really different and tasty."

Fellow pupil judge Christopher Morgan-Smith, 10, says: "The beef was lovely and tender, I really liked it."

Conway says: "I believe it's really important for the children to have healthy and nutritious meals that look and taste great as well. I was delighted to be involved in the project."

Wendy Philp, head of the SFSS, says of the chef's efforts: "Stephen has brought imagination and enthusiasm to the project and we're delighted with what he's come up with." On behalf of the SFSS she adds: "We're committed to pushing pupils out of their comfort zones and getting them to try new things and banishing forever the stereotype of soggy school veggies!

"We hope to have the dishes on the menu as soon as possible."

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