Latest News

Northumberland pub steps in to save school lunch service

23 February 2012

The pupils of Wark First School in Wark, near Hexham in Northumberland, are enjoying a menu of freshly-prepared lunches thanks to a link-up with nearby Battlesteads Pub, Hotel and Restaurant.

Following funding cut backs from the Local Education Authority (LEA), the school had to make the decision to close its kitchen and make its part-time cook redundant so head teacher Amanda Lewis needed to find an alternative solution.

The team at multi-award winning Battlesteads came to the rescue and they're now providing meals for the 30 children at the school every day.

The Guild of Food Writer’s CookIt! Competition returns

1 February 2012

The Guild of Food Writers has announced details of its annual cookery competition - CookIt! - and is now searching for young cooks across the country to take part.

First prize is a week's family holiday in Cornwall and the winning child's school will win £100 worth of book vouchers.

With the theme 'Going for Gold', young cooks are asked to create a winning two course meal - main meal and pudding - for a favourite sports person. Entrants, aged from 10 to 14 on Friday 31 August 2012, are encouraged to get involved.

Vic Laws awarded MBE

10 January 2012

LACA administrator Vic Laws has been awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List ‘for services to the UK hospitality sector’.

LACA chair Lynda Mitchell describes the award as “very well deserved”.

Vic, who has helped train prisoners and publicise the work of the ground-breaking Clink Restaurant project at HMP High Down in Surrey. It is the only commercial restaurant set inside a prison to train inmates to help them get a career in hospitality when they leave.

In 2011 he was appointed a ‘restaurant ambassador’ for The Clink.

Keynote speakers announced for UK’s first Children’s Food Conference

5 January 2012

Sir Michael Marmot and Dame Clare Tickell are to head a line-up of speakers on why better food for children is at the heart of improving public health, at a new conference to be held in March.

The chairs of 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives' and 'The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning' will top the bill of speakers at the UK's first Children's Food Conference, launched by the Children's Food Trust with the School Food Trust.

The UK's first Children's Food Conference, launched by the Children's Food Trust with the School Food Trust and taking place at the CBI Con

Bernard Matthews Backs Craft Guild’s Schools Initiative

16 December 2011

The Craft Guild of Chefs (CGC) has announced another top industry brand has agreed to get behind its Cooking As A Family workshops, with Bernard Matthews Foodservice now the latest company to lend its support to the scheme.

The events, which were trialled earlier in the year, see Craft Guild members visit school classroom kitchens to get parents and guardians cooking with their children.

Bernard Matthews will be providing turkey for the events, including at the first event in 2012, which is scheduled to take place on January 11 at the Simon Balle School in Hertfordshire.

Top chef Brian Turner to present schools with Food for Life Partnership Awards

5 December 2011

Top chef Brian Turner is presenting the Gold and Silver Food for Life Partnership Awards to 19 schools from across the country on Wednesday (7 December) for their commitment to transforming school food culture.

The awarded schools are:

Gold
Chestnuts Primary School, Haringey, London
Collaton St Mary, Paignton, Devon
Crich Junior School, Matlock, Derbyshire
Great Missenden C of E Combined Primary School, Buckinghamshire
Farley Hill Primary School, Reading
Takeley Primary School, Takeley, Hertfordshire

Silver

Sodexo partners with Rocket Gardens to provide schools with grow-your-own kitchen gardens

2 December 2011 | London Region

Sodexo, a leading provider of onsite service solutions, has teamed up with Rocket Gardens to provide schools across the country with grow-your-own kitchen gardens.

As part of Rocket Gardens’ ‘Dig for the Future’ project, which encourages schools to get children growing organic vegetables and learning about the food they eat, Sodexo is providing schools in communities where it operates with seasonal fruit, vegetable and salad gardens.

The Sodexo Foundation, the company’s registered charity, is sponsoring the company’s partnership with Rocket Gardens as part of its STOP Hunger c

Elior UK introduces training workshops for schools

25 November 2011 | London Region

The Elior Chef School involves interactive workshops held under the instruction of its senior chef team and renowned industry chefs, including Anton Edelman, and combines practical experience with traditional learning.

Each month students cover different topics, from butchery and bread making to sauces and seafood, while working towards a Level 2 NVQ. Most of the sessions are held at Elior’s flagship development kitchen at Waterstone’s Piccadilly.

Many Elior suppliers are involved with the programme, supplying ingredients for the classes and hosting visits.

UK children are feasting on junk food at least three times a day, finds study

25 November 2011

A new British Heart Foundation survey has unveiled statistics that nearly one in three UK children eat sweets, chocolate and crisps three or more times a day, while almost nine in ten children surveyed (88%) were not eating their recommended five portions of fruit and veg every day.

The survey of 2,000 11- to 16-year-olds helps give a snapshot of their daily diet.

Caterers urged to put Real Bread on The Menu

31 October 2011

The Real Bread Campaign is working on an initiative to encourage more public sector canteens to put Real Bread on The Menu.