Parents struggling with fussy eaters may have found an unlikely ally in school food - after a recent survey found that four out of five children eating school meals have tried food in the school canteen that they would never try at home.
In a poll of 1,000 parents for the School Food Trust, more than 80% of those with children who eat school meals said their youngsters had experimented with new foods at school, with a further 50% of parents reporting they’d been asked to make dishes at home that their children had eaten at school.
The poll also found that carrots, sweet corn and peas remain the most popular vegetables for children, with aubergine, chickpeas and spinach ranked amongst the least favourite.
The Trust commissioned the poll following a Mumsnet survey in 2009, which suggested that some parents choose packed lunches for their children because they worry that they are too fussy to eat anything else.
Chairman of the Trust, Rob Rees, said: “Every parent knows it’s a nightmare watching their child push food around the plate. School meals can be a great way to help parents encourage their children to try new foods and to increase the variety of foods in their diet.
“I think we all remember wanting to eat like our friends at school – it has a huge influence on what children are prepared to try, so school meals are a good option for fussy eaters.
“What’s more, we are starting to see a shift in children’s habits since the introduction of new standards for school food. Our research in primary schools has shown that children eating school meals do have healthier options on their plates than they did five years ago.”
Lunches served in all maintained schools in England must now meet specific standards, so that the average meal provides the right mix of energy and nutrients that children need. Research in schools by the Trust has shown that, rather than helping fussy eaters, packed lunches generally contain fewer healthy items than school lunches. Children eating packed lunches typically take in higher levels of fat, sugar and salt than pupils eating school meals.
Mumsnet co-founder, Carrie Longton, said: “Getting children to eat healthily is every parent’s dream, but meal times at home can often be a battle ground and emotionally charged. From mumsnetters’ experience it seems that once at school there’s a desire to fit in with everyone else and even some positive peer pressure to boast about the variety of what foods you can eat. School meals have also moved on quite a bit from when mumsnetters were at school, with healthier options and more variety. It’s hard, not to mention extraordinarily time-consuming and sometimes counter-productive, to get the same variety into a packed lunch.”
Donna Lovett from Norwich recently started her son Connor on school meals. “I was convinced I had a fussy child who would only turn his nose up at the food on offer at school,” she said.
“But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only did he love the food being served in the school canteen, it has also encouraged him to try new foods, especially fish and vegetables. Now I can introduce new meals at home which wouldn’t have been possible at all four months ago”.
School cooks across the country use a range of techniques to tempt children to try new flavours. In Northumberland, the head chef at Cambois First School uses self-service to encourage even very young children to put a variety of foods on their plates. Every pupil is expected to take at least one spoonful of everything on offer and then they are allowed a second spoonful of anything they particularly like. Parents are also invited to the school to eat with their children on certain days.
Head teacher Paul Frost said: “The tasting programme has really helped to encourage our children to try different foods and eliminate fussy eating habits. Children as young as five and six serve themselves at lunchtime. We work on the theory that the children must try a bit of everything and eat what they take – but they decide on the quantities. The results have been amazing: waste has been significantly reduced and we can see even young children making responsible choices. We have found that if children are given responsibility, they take it seriously.”
Alex Thompson, from the School FEAST training centre for school cooks at the Blue School in Somerset, has developed a set of top tips on fussy eating for parents to try at home:
- Get children involved from the ground up – planting vegetables in the garden or even on your kitchen windowsill, taking them to see how food is grown in local farms or visiting the fish counter at a local market are all great ways to get youngsters interested in food
- Bring the food to life – use a good variety of different foods and think of creative ways to describe them. For example, what was once a simple noodle soup might be better described as ‘Wriggly Worm Soup’. Suddenly it tastes delicious!
- Let children lend a hand – asking your little ones to help you cook and prepare their food is a good way to involve them in the process of food creation. Even chores like washing-up can be made fun if your youngsters are allowed to take part
- Make it individual – individual-sized portions in smaller dishes can make children feel like the food was made especially for them.
- It’s all in the presentation – you’ll be surprised at how much a child is willing to try simply because the food is presented in an interesting way. For example, frozen banana chunks look and taste great and make a healthy alternative to ice-cream or lollies
