Ever wonder what Fife school dinners are really like?
There have been recent reports of pupils saying they leave them hungry or that they don’t like what is on offer.
Such is their concern, Fife councillors have asked to be served a school dinner to judge for themselves.
Never one to miss a bandwagon, I decided to see first-hand what canteens are serving up.
And last week Pitteuchar West Primary School welcomed me to its dining hall so I could try a Fife school dinner for myself.
Here’s how I got on.
I arrive just as P2 pupils are filing into the hall.
Olivia eagerly shows me where to queue up and collect my tray. And helpfully reminds me to pick up some cutlery.
Today’s main meals are pork sausages or vegetarian cottage pie with gravy, mashed potatoes and peas.
Mashed potatoes from an ice-cream scoop
I go for the sausages, figuring that will be the popular choice.
Three decades have passed since I last had a school dinner.
But, yes, they still use an ice-cream scoop for the mashed potatoes!
Long gone, thankfully, are the ceramic plates. And with them the sound of an entire hall jeering as some unfortunate kid dropped and smashed one.
Dessert is a slice of melon or yoghurt.
I look around the dining hall and Olivia and her friends are waving at me to join their table. Phew, I have some buddies!
My plate has three sausages and two scoops of potato while my companions’ have two sausages and one scoop of potatoes.
But, as Grace agrees, I do have a bigger tummy to fill.
Sausages and mash is always a winner. And this serving is no different.
There is, obviously, no salt on the table, but I don’t miss it. My lunch is tasty enough.
Thomas licks his plate clean
As we tuck in, Olivia, Grace, Elsie, Adaline, Andi and Rhae tell me their favourite and least favourite lunches.
This one, sausages and mash, is popular. Further up the table, Thomas shows his approval by licking his plate clean.
Pizza is also a favourite. A few choose the teriyaki vegetables with noodles.
“It has to be hotdogs,” says Andi.
Adaline chips in: “My favourite is teriyaki. I like the selection of vegetables. There’s carrots, broccoli, pepper and, I think, cucumber.” Close, courgette.
Thumbs down for fishfingers?
Surprisingly, bubbly-coated fish fillets and fishfingers (they do contain salmon) get the thumbs down from a few. A couple of the girls tell me they take a packed lunch when these are on the menu.
Overall, how would you rate Fife school dinners?, I ask.
“Five stars,” says Rhae. Olivia outbids her with 10 stars. Someone else ups the ante to 100 stars. Then another votes “infinity”! I can’t tell who as the girls are all talking at once, so eager to tell me of the joy of school lunch.
But before they disappear and leave me alone to clear my plate they tell me the best thing about lunch break. Play time.
While my serving looked small, I’m so full I can’t eat the yoghurt I chose for dessert.
The canteen staff making Fife school dinners
Catering supervisor Heather Michie is tidying up when I go to return my tray, plate and cutlery for washing.
She and her team prepare meals onsite each day.
She says: “The kids that have school meals love them. We do have a few have packed lunches but that’s something I’m working on.
“We try to provide for all our kids. Some have sensory issues and we try to accommodate everyone. Some like butter, some don’t, some don’t like what’s on the menu and we try to provide a wee alternative.
“If we see they’ve not eaten much we try to encourage them.
“Pizza day is a really good day, the kids love that. And the burgers.”
Will pizza and burger be on the menu next year?
New school menus are introduced each August, so hopefully pizzas, burgers and sausages and mash will return.
Heather says: “We had a meeting with the people that make up the menus and told them, this is what our kids love, can we try to incorporate that into next year’s?
“And they’ve made up the menus based on our feedback.”
Fife Council facilities management service manager Shirley McKie said her team regularly seeks menu suggestions.
Feeding Fife’s kids to play and learn
She says: “All of our school meals are prepared to national nutritional standards. Our menus provide nutritious and good value choices that ensure a balanced and healthy diet over the school week.
“As well as a range of cooked meals, there are healthy cold lunch options – filled rolls, sandwiches and wraps.
“A Fife school lunch provides at least one third of the daily nutritional requirements of pupils.
“We’ll continue to work hard to make sure that children and young people have access to healthy and nourishing meals so that they are fully able to learn, play, and engage with their peers and communities.”
I hope the councillors enjoy their Fife school dinners as much as I did mine.
Conversation