cook@school cooking project inspires pupils in Dresden

Working together for healthy eating and educational equality

With the cook@school project, VielfaltMenü has been actively promoting nutritional education for children and young people for many years. The workshops focus on cooking together, imparting knowledge about healthy eating and learning table manners. Healthy nursery and school meals have a demonstrably positive influence on the development of children and young people. In order for children to stay healthy, it is important that they develop an understanding of healthy eating at an early age. Daycare and school catering plays a central role in this and can be ensured through close cooperation between facilities, caterers and politicians. Catering for children at schools and daycare centers is therefore an important measure to combat food poverty and makes a decisive contribution to educational equality.

Participation of the State Office for Schools and Education

The participation of the State Office for Schools and Education (LaSuB) Dresden site on March 7, 2024 was all the more important. Olaf Reitz, Head of the Department of Primary and Special Schools and Nadja Minge, consultant from the area of school health promotion and prevention, were present as representatives. Their visit underlines the importance of nutrition education projects - particularly in the context of the German government's recently adopted nutrition strategy.

"With the help of the cook@school project and the knowledge they learn through play, the pupils are encouraged to make active decisions about their own eating habits and learn about the positive contribution healthy eating makes to their own health. It was great to see how enthusiastic and inquisitive the children were and how a classroom can be temporarily transformed into a kitchen and restaurant," says Olaf Reitz.

Sustainable nutrition education

The nutrition project deals, for example, with education about the sugar content in food. At the end of the project, each child receives a certificate of participation and a cookbook to take home. The recipes in the book are plant-based and were created in collaboration with the nutrition organization ProVeg e. V.. In this way, the children also pass on their knowledge to their families.

"The VielfaltMenü team travels to the respective institutions with a mobile kitchen and cooking equipment. In this way, we enable schools that don't have their own kitchen to enjoy an unforgettable cooking event," says Volker Frohn, experienced cook@school chef at VielfaltMenü. "It's always great to see how much fun the children have cooking. We provide inspiration and impart knowledge in a fun way."