Sheila Dillon
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Paediatrician and parent Dr Jonathan Henderson with cook and parent Susie Lee in Belfast.
They make a rare combination, ready to launch a campaign that promises to make waves.
Everybody that you can hear in this program knows that changes like these are a long way from straightforward.
Food is visceral, part of our identity, and we bridle at that identity being challenged.
As I said earlier, in 2006, some families at a school in Roarmarsh near Rotherham pushed back against changes to school food, changes they saw as being forced on them from above.
Writer Heather Parry grew up in Rawmarsh.
Twenty years after the event, she reflected in the online magazine Vittles on what happened and the impact it had.
Writer Heather Perry, with a sharp reminder of how easy it is to use food to stigmatise people and how much harder it is to really look at the harsh economic and cultural realities that limit people's access to power.
Last autumn, the Department for Education ran a six-week trial of the proposed new food standards in a small group of mostly primary schools.
Early findings suggest the changes led to an increase in children opting for school dinners.
But the full results haven't been released, and some contract caterers involved in the pilot say that's only part of the story.
Luke Consiglio is CEO of The Pantry.
a catering company serving around 170 schools, mostly in the southeast.
He also serves on the board of the School Food People, a professional body representing the school and education food sector in the UK.
Okay, well, just give me a better sense of what the children in this primary school were eating before the pilot, and then what was the food during the pilot?
What do you mean that cake will drive the rest of the meal?
I don't understand.
So how would Luke implement the new school food standards if he was running the show?
Caterer Luke Consiglio.
We asked the government's Department for Education to respond to Luke's criticisms.