Fast food is usually synonymous with unhealthy diets and expanding waistlines.
But Fife is bucking the trend, with the local authority having cooked up a new way to deliver healthy snacks to the perennially fickle teenage market.
On the road for the new school term are new fast food vans which are helping deliver healthy snacks for Fife’s secondary school pupils.
Getting healthy food into young people and children is more often than not a huge problem but the council is hoping its new Smash It vans will deliver the sweet taste of success.
They operate on the premise that give young people the choice of a sit down meal at lunchtime or some fast food on the go, most will opt for the second option.
That’s why Fife Council’s facilities management service has launched the new food vans to sell healthy food and drink to pupils who are not venturing into school dining rooms.
The aim is to catch pupils who feel more comfortable outside or who are walking towards the nearest fast food takeaway and instead serve up a portion of healthy food.
The vans offer hot and cold finger food, soup, sandwiches and drinks which young people can enjoy on the go.
Education and children’s service convener, SNP councillor Fay Sinclair, said: “We are keen to do everything we can to help our young people make healthy choices.
“We know that many of them choose not to stay in school at lunchtime so we had to look at other ways to provide them with a healthy meal out with the school environment.
“These vans seem to offer the solution.”
The vans will be operating at Queen Anne in Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath’s Beath, Kirkcaldy’s Balwearie and St Columbas and Woodmill high schools in Dunfermline.
Service manager Keith Breasley said: ‘Not all pupils want to spend their lunchtime in school and by offering food to go in this manner we are ensuring those who want a break from the school environment can do so yet still take advantage of the nutritious food on offer from the school catering service.”
