Kids don't know how to peel potatoes

Half of children do not know how to peel a potato, according to a school food project coordinator.

Talking at a National Food Suppliers Conference, Mary Weston, local food co-ordinator at Leicestershire Food Links, claimed simply providing fruit and vegetables to schools would not be enough to change the nation's habits.

Pupils need to learn how to prepare fresh produce because it is no longer a priority at home, she said.

Weston told delegates that half the children in one of her class projects did not know how to peel a potato and had never even seen it done before.

Speakers at the conference said chef Jamie Oliver had done wonders for some schools but institutional meals will not improve further until our concept of value for money changes.

The panel agreed that public sector institutions were operating what Lord Whitty termed "benign cycles" of budgeting, which did not consider any factors other than the base cost of meals.

According to Mike Tiddy, NHS PASA purchasing manager, 60 per cent of NHS Trusts are keen on sustainable objectives but getting them to implement changes will be difficult.

Although sourcing local food is favoured as a way of helping the local economy, a major shift in attitude towards spending on food is required, he said.

Sir Donald Curry agreed. On the subject of hospital catering he said: "We need to change the importance and priority given to food. It needs to be regarded as part of the therapy. The fact that we are driving down catering budgets while the money spent on drugs spirals seems to me very challenging."

Mike Duckett, catering manager at the Royal Brompton Hospital, highlighted the importance of teaching patients in hospitals about eating healthy diets, containing lots of fresh produce.

He said attitudes are changing slowly. For example, one patient is now spending £10 a week on oranges instead of supplementary vitamins to get the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.

The Royal Brompton Hospital is one of four hospitals involved in the London Food Link Hospital Food Project. The initiative, led by Sustain, aims to increase the amount of local and organic food in the hospitals' catering allowance to 10 per cent.