Our Food Reps sprang into enthusiastic action this week for the termly Food Committee meeting with Mrs Henry and Ms Grew, eager to have their say on all things food-related at school!

Before the meeting all the reps had to quiz their forms what were their overall favourite and least favourite meals from the current menu, as well as put forward their forms’ suggestions for next term’s lunch and snack menus. Food Reps were elected for each form by the students and every form was represented with reps from Year 7 up to the Sixth Form.

As a result of the previous Food Committee meeting in June, many new items had been added to the menu this term thanks to the students’ suggestions. These included the return of chicken pie, pasta Bolognese with garlic bread, pesto pasta with tofu instead of tempeh, ice cream, ready-made rice puddings, sweetcorn on the salad bar, more sauce available with the meatballs, avocado salad for the summer menu, breaded chicken and chips was requested to replace battered fish, vegetable pie to replace Quorn shepherd’s pie, sausage baps back on the morning break menu, vegan burgers were also added and are available on request.

Mrs Henry explained that the following new dishes have been added to the menu this term:

• Chicken Chasseur with wild rice, sautéed Kale and Butternut Squash
• Teriyaki Salmon with stir-fry rice
• Smokey Tofu Cauliflower Cheese
• Seabass with Watercress salsa and Herby New Potatoes
• Beef Bolognese
• Lamb Keema and Tarka Dahl
• Minted Lamb Koftas

Meanwhile the new vegetable options are:  purple sprouting broccoli, roasted roots, sautéed leeks, basil and butter corn on the cob, harissa courgettes, savoy cabbage, rainbow cauliflower and many more.

New salad bar options to try are:

• Crunchy radish, yellow pepper and cucumber salad
• Beansprout, carrot, onion, coriander and pumpkin seed salad
• Watercress and pomegranate salad
• Quinoa, red pepper, cucumber and parsley salad
• Rocket and roasted vegetable salad
• Samphire, red onion and heritage tomatoes
• Roasted beetroot, onion and baby spinach salad

Topping the current menu for popular dishes according to the reps were sausage and mash, meatballs, Carbonara, lamb kofta, bao buns, ravioli, the variety on the salad bar, spinach falafel, all curries, fajitas and of course the legendary home-baked chocolate rice crispy cakes and chocolate brownies!

At the meeting, every Year group had the chance to put forward their own ideas which Mrs Henry will consider for next term’s menus. These included a bean chilli con carne instead of a vegetable Bolognese (Year 8), a return of the chicken wings with bbq sauce (Year 10), paella (Year 7), pizza (Year 8), potato wedges instead of chunky chips (Sixth Form), sweet & sour stir fry (Sixth Form), more waffles (Year 11), more baked beans, prawns in the tomato sauce with garlic bread again and a request for more chicken biryani (Sixth Form).

 Mrs Henry thanked everyone for attending and for their helpful comments and reminded them that they can come and see or email her anytime if they have any questions or suggestions about the catering provision. We await next term’s menus with interest!