School Food Matters work to teach children about food and to improve children’s access to healthy, sustainable food during their time at school. Their Know Your Onions programme, funded by the Company’s Charitable Trust, gives secondary school students an opportunity to try cooking and growing to stimulate an interest in food and a love of the natural world.
The programme teaches students how to plant, and grow fruit and vegetables in their school gardens, which they then sell at a local street market. Taking a seed to plate approach the programme begins with a School Food Matters gardener guiding students on seed sowing and plant maintenance, food teachers then lead two cookers classes, teaching young people key skills in cooking with home-grown vegetables. Once ready, students harvest their vegetables and sell them at markets at Camden, Ridley Road and Whitechapel, selling a range of produce from carrots, beetroots and lettuce to blackberries, apples and plums.
Support from the Company has enabled the programme to reach over 566 students across north and east London. One student explained how the programme had opened their eyes to the satisfaction of cooking saying “instead of being on your phone or computer or PlayStation you can go and cook something amazing” whilst another said “the experience made me feel bonded with nature”. With 75% of students involved eligible for free school meals and 81% with special educational needs, this programme is connecting young people with a range of social and educational challenges with fresh, healthy and sustainable food, forging habits that are better for both people and planet.
© The Fishmongers’ Company 2024
