School Meals Programme cooking staff on Nevis training for “Tour Around the World” initiative

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (March 11, 2021) – More than 30 staff from the School Meals Programme on Nevis took part in the first of a series of training sessions hosted by the Department of Education in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) in preparation for a new initiative in the school feeding programme.  It was held at the Charlestown Primary School’s cafeteria on March 10, 2021.

Mrs. Renell Daniel, School Meals Coordinator in the Department of Education explained that the training is designed to prepare the cooking staff to offer a variety of international dishes in an initiative dubbed “Tour Around the World”, which follows from “Tour Around the Caribbean” which focussed on Caribbean dishes. It was introduced in the second school term.

“In Term III we are going to “Tour Around the World” and we are going to offer different types of food combinations as well as stopping at different countries in the world, and today we have Chef Henville who is going to be training our cooks as to do fish – Mahi-mahi as well as a salad with vegetables…

“He’s been working with our cooks throughout the term and today is no different where he will be working with our cooks, training them as to how to cook these meals and make them more child-friendly as well as tasty,” she said.

Ms. Wendy Tsai, a volunteer Nutritionist from Taiwan who is attached to the School Meals Programme will be among the trainers. She will teach the participants how to prepare Stir Fried Beef Noodles and Spring rolls when the tour “stops” in Taiwan.

Mrs. Daniel also spoke on how the upcoming training sessions will be done and commended participants for readily accepting the training.

“You will see that we have different chefs as well and different restaurants come in. We are also planning with Indian Summer when we stop in India, and we have other places that we will stop on our journey around the world…

“We applaud our cooks for being willing and open to the menu changes… we applaud our cooks for taking this journey with us, and joining the School Meals Programme in helping our children develop healthy lifestyles,” she said.

The School Meals Coordinator noted that the department continues to move forward with the feeding programme and is constantly reviewing meals prepared in an effort to make them better and tastier for students.

Chef Michael Henville, Executive Chef and Food and Nutrition Specialist with the School Meals Programme, used the opportunity to commend the participants for their interest.

“Today we are going to do a quick simple and easy pan seared Mahi Mahi with a little bit of a citrus and butter sauce with a pumpkin salad. I want to applaud all of our cooks here today that’s giving of their time to learn these new dishes, and to try something new and to also educate the kids on these new healthy dishes that we are trying with them.

“So I really applaud them, and really just…moving the School Meals Programme forward…in a better and newer direction,” he said.

At the end of the training sessions the participants will have the opportunity to recreate the new dishes for students at the schools on Thursday of each week, to expose them to different tastes and flavours from around the world. Students will also have the opportunity to learn briefly about the country the dish originates from.

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