There is always the exception but it would be fair to say that most kids – especially young kids – like their food plain. Mince, tick. Pasta, tick. Crackers, tick. Nothing touching, tick.
Fruit must be common: apples or bananas. Veggies must be raw: carrots. Actually, only carrots.
So is the menu at Prince George’s school tailored around what parents like to eat, or do the students actually like the meals?
The lunch choices at Thomas’s Battersea include options such as Authentic Freshly Prepared Coq au Vin, Freshly Prepared Bavarian Hunter’s Beef Stew, Freshly Prepared Seabass Fillet With Aubergine and Freshly Prepared Free Range Chicken and Mushroom Topped with Sauté Potato.
They sound mouthwateringly delicious. But to an adult. You wouldn’t get my eight-year-old near a mushroom – meaning the free range chicken dish would be out. Beef stew? Forget it. Aubergine, he doesn’t know what that is. And he would regard a dish with a name like Coq au Vin with great suspicion.
The school follows a three-week menu cycle, repeated once, and the menu changes with the seasons. It’s explained on the school website that “each term the catering team develop a range of ideas and dishes with an emphasis on healthy cooking, full flavour and presentation. Our goal is to not only persuade pupils to eat but, more importantly, to enjoy a balanced diet whilst at school”.
The desserts sound amazing but again seem geared towards adults: Oven Baked Apple and Cherry Strudel Served With Fresh Cream, Natural Greek Yoghurt Topped With Oats and Berries, Freshly Prepared Apple and Courgette Sponge with a Vanilla Custard, Dino Cheese Portion and Kallo Breadsticks Fresh Fruit Platter.
The only dish my son would touch is the Deep Fried Churros With A Sprinkle Of Cinnamon Sugar – or the Freshly Prepared Chocolate and Beetroot No Nuts Brownie Served With Fresh Organic Single Cream, as long as you didn’t tell him it contained beetroot.
When my son returns to school in February he’ll be having his usual peanut butter sandwich accompanied by an apple, homemade slice and a handful of crackers.
Am I worried that he won’t think it’s good enough? No, but I’ll be salivating thinking about what Prince George is having.