Chefs Corner

Food Education for Children

BY Steve Walpole

I just did a food education session for the Adopt a School Trust at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Sometimes when you have a busy life and lots of things going on it’s a shock to suddenly go across to a school attached to a hospital doing an amazing job with some incredible kids – it puts a lot of things in perspective.

The school is a bit like Harry Potter – you go down this little side and this little garden into this another little world. There are these wonderful teachers and support people. I had a small class – four or five youngsters. Some of these kids have been through things you can’t imagine.

You take some fruit and vegetables in and do nothing more than carve swans out of apples, butterflies and leaves out of carrots. And some fruit and veg recognition. I took along some different apples and I let them have an Emperor apple – really crisp and shiny. I did these lunch boxes at the end with treats and fruit and English apples and some tomatoes from Kent and I gave them a little selection – the best of seasonal British and some highlights from around the world.

It was amazing see their interest and how fascinated they were that you could take something as simple as an apple and carve it into a elegant swan and they would eat it tenfold. The nice thing was having that interaction and brightening their day. Giving them a little box like that is like giving them a playstation.

In the last few years and especially with organisations like the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and the Craft Guild of Chefs – and trying to be an ambassador – the education system has really started to embrace food and the importance of sustainably and seasonality. I have seen a massive improvement in terms of peoples understanding, general food education and supermarkets have also started to appreciate the importance of seasonality and British sourcing.

I had five children form different background but they could name pretty much everything I put in front of them. They could even name physalis. There has been a marked change there and people are getting more adventurous. Cooking is the new rock and roll.

Steven Walpole is a leading chef and food consultant, working with a wide range of clients developing menus, recipes and other products. See www.stevewalpoleltd.com for more detail. ____________________________________________________________ Steve's CV includes stints at some of London’s best eating establishments including Browns Hotel, Home House, City Rhodes, Quaglinos, The Four Seasons, The Lanesborough, The Intercontinental, Le Champenois, Lloyds of London, The Boulestein and the Waterside Restaurant at Bray. He has been a finalist and medal winner in countless competitions including UK Parade de Chefs Olympia, Toque d’Or, Roux brother’s scholarship, Nestle Grand Prix Masterclass, Academy of Culinary Arts. Born in Essex, Steven has been passionate about cooking since he started a Saturday job in a local restaurant at the age of 15 – a whole host of college qualifications, diplomas and awards followed in rapid succession and he became a full time lecturer at the famed Westminster College in London. In 2000 Steven was the highest performing candidate in the Kitchen category at the Academy of Culinary Arts Awards and in 2003 came second at the grand final in one of the most prestigious competitions on the competition circuit – the Roux Scholarship Finals making him the youngest ever lecturer to do so. He is considered to be one of the finest young chefs in the country. Having co-presented a 10 part television series (Kids Fit Squad) with Jane Wake (fitness guru Celebrity Fit Club) for Discovery Health, Steven appeared at The Vitality Show and also at The Homes Show at Excel in London. Steven also lectures on childhood obesity, and healthy eating for children is a subject that he is passionate about. He ran a Junior Chefs Academy for children at Westminster College and held nationwide workshops teaching children how to cook. He is chef consultant to the charity HOPE (www.hopeuk.info) producing healthy recipes and inspiring children and adults to get into a healthy eating scheme and well balanced diet and worked recently with Weight Watchers UK. He is a member of the Academy of Culinary Arts. Steven has appeared at food festivals worldwide including Karachi, Pakistan and the Gourmet Food Festival in Johanesburg and Capetown, South Africa and he is part of www.celebritychefsuk.com. Looking good is equally as important and Steven regularly trains in a gym; his other interests include extreme sports and he recently participated in a parachute jump for charity – an experience he can’t wait to repeat!

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