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Children from The Sanday Community School on the Isle of Sanday in the Orkney Isles swapped their classroom for a fishmongers and a supermarket today for a food fact-finding mission to Kirkwall, on the mainland.
The Sanday children are among the first from Scotland to take part in a ‘Farm to Fork Trail’, a Tesco-led initiative to help children find out more about the food on their plate and how it gets there.
And it wasn’t a simple stroll down the high street to visit one of Tesco’s most northerly stores in the U.K. – their trip started with an early morning ferry ride to reach the Orkney capital.
When they arrived, pupils aged 5-8 from the Orkney school were treated to a behind the scenes lesson on how Scottish Salmon are prepared for sale in-store at Kirkwall fishmonger Jolly’s Fish. The trail then continued at the Kirkwall Tesco store to learn about how different types of bread is made, to see how the Salmon from Jolly’s Fish is sold and to investigate the taste, smell and origin of different fruit and vegetables.
Backed by Diabetes U.K., the Children’s Food Trust and the NFU amongst others, Farm To Fork is the first initiative of Tesco’s Eat Happy Project, a major new food education programme that is committed to improving children’s relationship with food.
Offered to every primary school in the U.K., FarmTo Fork will see food suppliers across the country opening their farms and factories to teach kids how, for example, milk is produced, where eggs come from and how lettuce grows. Specially trained colleagues in more than 700 Tesco stores across the U.K. will also be teaching children about different foods and giving practical demonstrations, for example, baking bread, tasting new fruits and vegetables and learning all about fish.
Tesco’s ambition is to give one million of the five million primary school children in the U.K. opportunity to go on the trails in the project’s first year to support their syllabus in learning about food, farming and nutrition.
Sanday Community School Head Teacher, Rosemary Newton, said:
“Gone are the days when all our children lived on farms and understood where all their food comes from. We do have to make an active effort to educate our children about this along with helping them make healthy lifestyle choices in terms of food. This term the children’s topic has been Water and the trip to the fishmonger has formed a very important part of this learning for the children and you have no idea how excited they are about it!”
The Tesco Eat Happy Project launches as research from the Future Foundation reveals [90 per cent] of 7-14 year olds do not eat their five-a-day. In fact, despite claiming they know what constitutes a healthy diet, [52 per cent] think that potatoes count as one of their five-a-day, [16 per cent] think orange squash counts and one in [10 per cent] think carrot cake and ketchup count.
And the generation gap is growing; the study also highlights the concerns British parents have about their kids’ relationship with food: two-thirds believe children eat much more convenience food than they did and an overwhelming eighty per cent say their kids are less healthy than they were as children.
Tesco Kirkwall Farm To Fork Trail Guide, Kasia Gorzkowska, said:
“It was a pleasure having The Sanday Community School attend our first Farm To Fork trail today. The aim of these trails is to inspire primary school children all over the country to learn more about the food on their plate and you could see that the kids today were really excited and enthusiastic. We look forward to welcoming more schools in the area to come and experience a trail for themselves.”
The second phase of Farm To Fork, to launch later in the year, will involve cookery courses for kids in stores, working with the Children’s Food Trust.
Tesco stores and suppliers are opening their doors to primary schools to take part in Farm To Fork trails. Schools can search for their nearest participating store and supplier, register their school and book a trail now at www.tesco.com/eathappyproject
Jollys of Orkney
This is a family run business has served Orkney for almost 60 years, and continues to be Orkney’s number one source for premium quality fish and shellfish.
Today, family is still central as the company is owned and run by Orcadians George and Anne Stout. It is still thriving, and continues to use traditional methods in this modern age, such as smoking fish in their own kiln, as well as filleting fish and preparing shellfish by hand. Their shop at Hatston offers a wide range of fresh and smoked seafood as well as a host of other popular quality Orkney products, such as cheese, meats, oatcakes and biscuits etc
Farm To Fork is a commitment to improving children’s relationship with food by providing every primary school in the U.K. access to a range of tools:
