Under the programme titled, Meals for School Children, 18 men and women from Denham Town in western Kingston recently participated in a cooking course to learn new cooking skills with a view to improving meals provided for young children in basic schools in the community. Parents and teachers of basic schools participated in the preparation of nutritious, creative and economical meals for school children.

Dr Heather Little-White, who has had a long tradition of promoting good nutrition for children and others along the life cycle, has been working in several communities. She believes that the development of healthy children should be reinforced in educational institutions using mass media and interactive methods for disseminating nutrition and health information to target groups.

Training objectives

The objectives of the training were to demonstrate creative ways to prepare economical meals, using locally produced food to improve the nutritional content of school meals and to demonstrate the entrepreneurial potential of school canteens. The training was also designed to motivate parents to play an active role in the preparation of school meals by donating time and/or produce that they may have in abundance.

Member of parliament for Western Kingston, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, provided support for the training programme though his Constituency Development Fund. The training was timely as it raised the self-worth of participants, especially coming after the recent incursion in the area.

Dishes prepared:

Callaloo cups

Mini pizzas

Corned beef dumplings

Mackerel run dung

Pumpkin bread/muffins

Carrot energiser

Mac-cheese salad

Stir-fried vegetables

Vienna one-pot curry

Crispy crusty oven-fried chicken

Fish in batter with orange sauce