SECONDARY schoolchildren up and down the country have gotten a taste for lamb thanks to a successful initiative celebrating red meat at the end of November.
QMS’s Tasty Little Lamb Week, which coincided with #LambForStAndrewsDay, was created to encourage Scottish schoolchildren to expand their palates and eat lamb – a red meat that Scotland has in abundance.
The recent initiative saw more than 18,500 pupils take part and cook with around 1.85 tonnes of lamb. In total, 62,000 pupils have benefited from the collaborative initiative over the last three years.
Following on from a successful Tasty Little Pork Week in September, QMS worked closely with Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers Scotland (IAAS) to deliver the #LambForStAndrewsDay in school initiative. IAAS received lamb donations to their ‘lamb bank’ from over 500 businesses which they distributed to local butchers ready for collection by the teachers.
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Schools taking part in this year’s Meat Voucher Scheme also received a Tasty Little Lamb Week resources pack, which included Gusto-style step-by-step recipe cards as well as a worksheet, lesson plan, PowerPoint version of the recipes and The Red Meat Key Nutrition Facts poster.
The worksheet covered three key themes – seasonality, locality and labelling to allow pupils to learn about the Scotch difference, making informed choices and the benefits of eating lamb as part of a healthy and sustainable diet.
Jennifer Robertson, Health & Education Manager at QMS, said: “Lamb is a meat that many children have never tried – and this is a real shame as it’s easy to cook with and is packed with nutritional benefits.
“We’re delighted that Tasty Little Lamb Week was such a success and that we are able to offer cookery demonstrations again up and down the country, allowing more children across Scotland to cook and taste delicious lamb. The feedback we received on our recipes was very positive and the Scotch Lamb Naan Pizza seemed to be a real winner – I think it will become a dinnertime staple going forward!
“It’s important that we celebrate our country’s natural larder and allow our children to really enjoy eating and cooking with sustainable meat that’s on our doorstep. Tasty Little Beef Week is up next in February, and we have more recipes and resources to share with schools that are in line with the Curriculum for Excellence.”
Shaunee Hepburn, a home economics teacher at Ellon Academy, said:“Pupils at Ellon Academy really enjoyed the Tasty Little Lamb Week demonstration and were engaged throughout the session. They were willing to volunteer, answer questions and listen to the chef discuss the benefits of Scotch lamb and the local produce used in the dishes.
“Generally, we found that lamb is a protein that many of the pupils don’t have at the dinner table, so the cookery demo has been a chance for them to take ideas home that the whole family can enjoy. They particularly enjoyed getting to try the dish at the end, a lot of pupils tasting lamb for the first time.”
Keep up to date with such initiatives by following Make it Scotch Education on Twitter, or signing up for the education newsletter via https://education.qmscotland.co.uk/FarmingFoodsteps/
