Gateshead Council has appointed its very own MasterChef to help take its school meals to the next level.
After working with some of the top restauranteurs in the region, professional chef Marek Blonski has joined Gateshead’s School Catering Service as it’s first-ever Development Chef to help put a bit of pep and panache into Gateshead’s school meals.
He will be responsible for devising delicious new child-friendly recipes for school cooks, as well as advising on nutrition, menu development, ingredient purchasing and food presentation. Some of Marek’s ideas are already being felt in school dining rooms throughout Gateshead, with greater emphasis on fresh fruit and vegetables and the introduction of a more interesting and extensive salad bar, and the new primary school menus for the next academic year, which will be unveiled in August, will show a lot more of Marek’s influence.
Marek will also be running practical demonstrations and masterclasses for catering staff to help develop their skills and further improve school catering across Gateshead, as well as talking regularly to parents and children about school meals and nutrition.
Facilities and Catering Manager Michael Lamb says:
“The old days of stodgy puddings and ‘chips with everything’ are long gone – in fact, I doubt whether most parents would recognise today’s school meals as the same food they’d enjoyed at school.
“The number of children having a hot meal in school each day has been going up and up in recent years as more parents realise the benefits of a proper midday meal for their children. We’ve come a long way in a short time, but we’re determined to take school meals even further.
“Marek has a huge amount of experience not only in the restaurant trade but in the commercial catering sector and we intend to use that experience to help make Gateshead’s school meals even more attractive, even more nutritious and even better value-for-money.”
Gateshead’s School Catering Service currently serves more than 11,000 meals each school day, with the majority of primary school children now staying for a cooked meal every day.
Around 75% of all main courses and desserts served in Gateshead schools are prepared freshly each day on-site by trained catering staff.