Green-Schools Food and Biodiversity Theme

Green-Schools Food and Biodiversity Theme

COMMUNITY FOOD AWARD

BY MICHELLE DARMODY

Within the school system, we teach language with which to communicate and we teach maths with which to navigate, but we do not teach crucial skills associated with food and commensality. A two-year food education programme aims to change this for a portion of students throughout Ireland. The programme was devised by Meabh Boylan, Clare Patten and myself, Michelle Darmody, for Green-Schools. It was successfully piloted in eight primary schools and is now being expanded nationwide, with 45 schools joining this year and a further 65 joining next year. Children are taught about food in an engaging and creative way with the hope of fostering inquisitiveness about where food comes from, how it is grown and how it affects all of our lives. The programme is wide-ranging, taking an expansive, hands-on approach to education. The first year focuses on local actions, including developing an edible school garden, creating food habitat maps and participating in soil health and seed workshops. The year culminates in tasting and cooking workshops using the produce from the school garden. The second year of the programme focuses more closely on the global impacts of food, while the growing aspect continues. Students explore the environmental problems associated with the global food system, investigating topics such as air miles and food packaging. A group of schools comes together at the end of the year to share the ideas that have been generated by their global food projects and to display the produce they grew and cooked in their school. Green-Schools provides cooking kits to all the participating schools as well as the seeds for the garden, teaching resources and ongoing support from their staff. The cooking kit provides children with the equipment to practise skills during the cooking workshops such as peeling, grating, knife safety and different chopping techniques. Many chefs from around the country have also come on board and are being paired with a school to help reiterate the learning from the cooking workshops by doing their own cooking demonstrations with the children. The feedback from both students and teachers has been heart-warming and the programme is a welcome addition to Ireland’s food education landscape, but for real lasting change in our approach to food in Ireland, the Department of Education and Skills needs to take food education seriously. We need to see a move away from the ‘good–bad’ health narrative currently on the curriculum and embed an exciting and engaging subject that explores the myriad aspects of food in the modern world and one that equips children to make delicious and nutritious food choices throughout life. greenschoolsireland.org

WE NEED TO EMBED AN EXCITING AND ENGAGING SUBJECT THAT EXPLORES THE MYRIAD ASPECTS OF FOOD IN THE MODERN WORLD AND ONE THAT EQUIPS CHILDREN TO MAKE DELICIOUS AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD CHOICES THROUGHOUT LIFE.

Rice paper rolls with dipping sauce

Over the course of the Green-Schools Food and Biodiversity Theme pilot, we trialled and cooked many different recipes with the children and this was always a firm favourite. At the beginning of the cooking workshop we would visit the school garden and pick whatever herbs, lettuce leaves and carrots that were available, then after giving everything a good scrub, get chopping and preparing. The tactility of rolling the damp, warm rice paper discs and stuffing them full of edible plants that the children had grown always led to a certain excitement and they tend to get eaten up very quickly. Makes 8 rolls

50g thin rice noodles 1 bunch of fresh mint 1 bunch of fresh coriander 2 medium-sized carrots 8 lettuce leaves 8 rice paper discs For the dipping sauce: 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp sesame oil 1 tsp honey 1/4 tsp crushed black pepper 1 garlic clove (optional) You will need: Measuring spoons 1 small bowl Mixing spoon Garlic press (optional) Kettle (or a pan and hob) 2 large heatproof bowls Colander Chopping board Chopping knife Potato peeler Clean tea towel

Wash your hands and dry them well. To make the dipping sauce, use the measuring spoons to measure the soy sauce, sesame oil and honey into a small bowl. Stir it really well so that the honey mixes in evenly, then stir in the crushed black pepper. If you are using the garlic, peel the clove and crush it with your garlic press, then add to your dip and stir it in. Set the dip aside. Boil some water in a kettle or in a pot on the hob and pour it into a heatproof bowl. Soak the rice noodles in the hot water for 15 minutes. Drain in the colander and set aside. Wash and chop the mint and coriander. Scrub the carrots, then thinly slice them into ribbons – a potato peeler will work best. Tear the lettuce into small strips with your hands. Pour some hot (but not boiling) water into a large heatproof bowl. Dip one rice paper disc into the hot water for 10 to 15 seconds, moving it around until it is soft all over, then place it on a clean tea towel to dry slightly. Repeat this with the other seven discs. Place one rice paper disc onto the chopping board and add some lettuce, carrots, mint, coriander and rice noodles in a line down the centre. Lift one edge of the disc over the filling and press it down, then roll up tightly so it looks like a sausage. Repeat with the remaining discs and serve with the soy sauce dip. Recipe by Green-Schools