SCHOOL COOKS UP A STORM FOR NATIONAL SCHOOL MEALS WEEK

The Alcuin School, a Leeds based independent day school, has celebrated National School Meals Week with a visit from an award winning chef.
The Alcuin School invited Mrs Hansa Dabhi, owner of well known vegetarian Gujarati restaurant “Hansa’s,” to run a cookery workshop for the children and introduce them to cooking with fresh ingredients as part of National School Meals Week.
The theme of this year’s National School Meals Week is “Get Wise to Food – It Matters” which focuses on improving young people’s recognition of different fresh ingredients, the importance of their nutritional value and learning an important life skill for the future. The Alcuin School operates a totally vegetarian school menu and is extremely committed to promoting healthy eating in and out of school. As part of National School Meals Week the school has been running its own healthy eating promotion and has organised several activities including “food” themed lessons and inviting parents to bring in culturally different dishes for the children to taste.
During her visit to the school Mrs Dabhi showed the children how to make a number of the Gujarati dishes which are popular in her restaurant as well as demonstrating a number of easy recipes that the schools catering team could incorporate into the school meals menu.
Mrs Hansa Dabhi has won many awards, including: Best Indian Vegetarian Restaurant in the UK, Yorkshire Forward’s Business Woman of the Year, Heart Beat Award, Curry Chef of the Year and Restaurant of Year 1996. She is also the author of Hansa’s Vegetarian Cookbook.

John Hipshon, Headteacher at The Alcuin School, said: “We were delighted to have Hansa visit the school. The day has been extremely successful and the children have learnt a great deal about nutrition and Gujarati cooking. We are hoping to incorporate some of Hansa’s recipes into our school meals menu very soon.”