There’s a great scene from Michael Moore’s 2015 documentary Where to Invade Next that focuses on school dinners. He visits a small rural town in France and goes to the “best place to eat in town: the school’s cafeteria.

In France, they consider school lunch to be part of the teaching day. The children spend a full hour, where they learn how to eat in a civilized, relaxed manner and enjoy healthy food. In the film, the children dine on scallops, chicken or lamb skewers, on cous cous, a dessert and even a cheese course (bien sûr!). With this excellent grounding in social eating, it’s little wonder the French have such a healthy attitude to food.

Earlier this year, the chair at Tramore Educate Together came across Moore’s documentary. Corinne is French, so it resonated with her, particularly since she now lives in a culture where school lunches are about wolfing down a sandwich in 10 minutes. She sent it on to my wife, who is principal at the school, and it got us all thinking. Could we hatch a plan to achieve something similar?

The result is “Eat Together”, which we’ve now delivered at four schools in Waterford. Since very few primary schools in Ireland have canteen facilities, we had the idea to send the lunches from GIY’s restaurant (GROW HQ) instead.

Once a week for a six- or eight-week period, we deliver to the school a delicious, two-course hot lunch from a menu plan prepared by our head chef, JB Dubois. The school agrees to schedule it in as a lesson (before lunch break), and we provide the teacher with a lesson plan to weave it in to the curriculum.

The children eat together at long tables to encourage them to talk to each other and, as in the French school, eat from proper plates/bowls and use real cutlery. We talk about the food they are eating and how it was produced or grown. They talk about texture and flavour, what veg they can identify in the meal, what they like and what they don’t.

The menu changes every week, but it’s always hearty, in-season food. We could have a little veg quiche or tartlet to start, followed by shepherd’s pie or chicken casserole. If dessert is on the menu, we generally sneak some veg in there too. A beetroot brownie, or carrot cake. The children bring the menus home so they can cook it at home if they so wish. Feedback from children, parents and teachers has been overwhelmingly positive – over 90% of parents would like the programme to continue and are willing to pay for it themselves.

This term, three local schools – Tramore Educate Together, Scoil Lorcáin and Gaelscoil Phort Láirge – are taking part. In a week where a Safefood Ireland study found that the total lifetime cost of childhood obesity in Ireland is estimated at €7.2bn, it’s clear that radical thinking on food education is needed. A programme like Eat Together could be part of the solution, and it’s worth noting that the government is already funding lunch deliveries to DEIS schools.

We’re actively looking for partners to help us roll Eat Together out further around the country – other schools, parent’s associations, restaurants, cafes, cookery schools, sponsors, etc. Get in touch if you want to get involved. CL

For further information, visit www.giy.ie

The Basic: Tunnel ventilation

As the cold weather draws in, it’s important to close up the doors of your greenhouse/polytunnel to keep the heat in as much as possible. However, try and give the polytunnel/greenhouse a good airing on fine dry days. Open up the doors and let air circulate. This will help to stop disease developing, particularly downy mildew, which can be a big issue in the winter months. On days where you do open the doors, make sure to close them again at night to retain whatever heat is in there.

Traditional Shepherd’s Pie

Last week, the Eat Together schools dined on JB’s traditional shepherd’s pie. The diced lamb gives this a fantastic texture, and it’s full of in-season vegetables: garlic, carrots, parsnips and onions.

500g diced lamb

4 large tomatoes or 1 small tin of chopped tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

2 medium carrots

1 parsnip

1 large onion

chopped rosemary leaves

200ml good homemade chicken stock (made from the left-over bones of a roast chicken)

pinch of salt

1 tbsp cooking oil

700g nice buttery mash potato to cover the top

1. Fry off the diced lamb with a little cooking oil in a wide stockpot for five to six minutes, until golden brown.

2 Peel and slice the vegetables. Add the vegetables to the meat and fry off for three to four minutes.

3 Add the chopped garlic, rosemary and salt. Add the chopped tomatoes and the chicken stock and simmer on low heat for two to three hours, until the meat starts to become flaky.

4 Pour the lamb stew into a pie dish, cover with mashed potato and bake at 150°C for 45 minutes.