17 Nov 2010
Twelve Dutch primary schools are to be awarded a prize for serving the best school lunch in the province. The best school lunch in the Netherlands! competition was launched in the autumn to stress to primary schools the importance of eating a healthy lunch. The competition is an initiative of the Smaaklessen & SchoolGruiten Helpdesk (Wageningen University, part of Wageningen UR) and the Nutrition Centre. All children in years 5 to 8 of the primary schools taking part were challenged to create a tasty, healthy and preferably sustainable lunch.
The schools entered into the spirit of the competition. Entries varied from home-made bread with grilled vegetables from the vegetable garden to original fruit juices made from seasonal fruit. And as icing on the cake, the tables were decorated to suit the occasion. The children’s efforts were recorded in a dazzling report.
Winners
An expert jury met in each province to judge the entries in terms of taste, healthiness, sustainability and originality. The winning schools were announced this week. The www.smaaklessen.nl/debesteschoollunch website (Dutch) has posted the names of the winning schools per province along with the date of the presentation ceremonies. Anyone interested may attend
Children’s cookery book
Every jury will visit the winning schools over the next few weeks (from 16 November to 15 December) to taste the home-made lunch and explain their report. The jury is made up of a chef from Euro-Toques and in most cases, a Dutch celebrity. For example, Jochem van Gelder will be visiting Gelderland, and Henk Wijngaard will go to Drenthe. On the day of the visit, the school will also be presented with its prize; a bowl of fruit for the entire school and a children’s cookery set including mixers, whisks, food processors and scales. The best recipes from each province will be compiled into a children’s cookery book, which will be on sale in all branches of the Lidl supermarket as from next year.
National final
The winning schools will go through to the national final in January 2011, where they will compete to win a mobile kitchen worth € 5,000.
The best school lunch in the Netherlands is part of a joint project being run by the Smaaklessen & SchoolGruiten Helpdesk, the Nutrition Centre, the Netherlands Heart Foundation and Lidl supermarkets.
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