Pupils at Preston Manor High School in Wembley took part in a specially tailored MFM workshop today, learning from Maria how to rustle up several tasty recipes, and about the health and environmental benefits of eating less meat and more vegetables and pulses.
The school has been supporting MFM for three years – serving only meat-free food in the canteen on Mondays – and it was the perfect opportunity to explain why to younger students.
With ingredients donated by Ocado, the recipes were designed to be simple and tasty enough for children to want to recreate at home. They included Butternut Squash Tagine with Buttered Chilli Couscous, Tomato and Coconut Curry and Spiced Carrot Pancakes with Carrot Houmous.
While young people are not always associated with healthy eating, there were also plenty of facts and figures about junk food to digest, to help them make informed decisions about where to spend their lunchtime money in future.
The workshop met with a positive response and students went away with recipe sheets, inspired to try cooking more meat-free dishes, and more aware of how their food choices impact the planet.
The school now plans to run a competition for students to come up with inventive meat-free dishes for the canteen on Mondays. Hopefully more schools will consider MFM in the future