From farm to fork Runners-up get a local flavour

A group from Loreto Secondary School Kilkenny were runners-up in the Our Food - Your Way!competition in 2008.

"We visited three local producers: Lavistown Cheese owned by Olivia Goodwillie, Whites Butchers, and Bennettsbridge fruit and crumbles," says 17-year-old Jane Farrell. "With Lavistown Cheese we actually saw the whole cheese process, from farm to fork. We visited the vats where they make the cheese, then we saw where the milk comes from and learnt how it is packaged and distributed. It's very interesting. I never really thought much about what I was eating before I saw the production process."

"Then we had to come up with a menu," says Emma Ryan (17). "We looked through lots of different cookbooks and eventually found recipes that fit our ingredients but which were also nutritionally balanced. We came up with vegetable soup served with home-made brown bread, Lavistown cheesy chicken Callan ham risotto served with organic salad and Bennettsbridge blueberry and bramble crumble served in a pot of strawberry yoghurt.

"We didn't aim it towards students specifically. It was more about what we liked ourselves and what we knew was healthy. The menu has a good balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates."

"The final section was to come up with a communications strategy," explains Claire Dunne (17). "A variety of meals were offered in our school canteen, some more healthy than others. We devised a points system for each healthy meal served. The healthier the meal the student bought, the more points they got. We had things like vegetarian lasagne, baked fish mornay, and spaghetti bolognese. When you pay for your meal, your number of points would be marked down and at the end of each month, the student with the most points won a prize."

"The whole experience was really enjoyable but useful too," adds Kate Green (17). "It's important to know what's good to eat, what a balanced diet should consist of, and why it's important to buy local food. We should take more pride in Irish cuisine."