Mention school dinners in an office and people suddenly have very specific memories.
Mashed potato served with an ice cream scoop (or potentially smash?!). Cornflake cakes covered in golden syrup. Sponge drowned in custard. A secondary school lunch consisting of a hot dog, red Tizer and four cookies for £1.
That last one was remembered particularly fondly by one of our team (mentioning no names), but they did point out:
“They were pretty good but maybe Jamie Oliver had a point.”
Twenty-one years after Jamie’s School Dinners, it’s a timely admission. School food is changing again.
What’s changing with school dinners?
New School Food Standards have been announced for England, with changes beginning from September 2027.
There’ll be more fruit and vegetables, wholegrains and fibre. Pulses such as lentils, beans and chickpeas will appear more regularly. Deep-fried food will no longer be served, while processed meats, sugary foods and desserts will face tighter restrictions.
For anyone whose school dinner memories involve a suspicious amount of beige, it’s quite the shift.
But the basic idea behind the changes is difficult to argue with. Children spend a significant chunk of their lives at school, and what they eat there matters. The Government hopes the new standards will improve nutrition and support children’s health, concentration, learning and wellbeing.
The trickier question is what happens when the nutritionally better option isn't the one pupils actually want to eat.
But what do pupils make of it?
Adults have had plenty to say about the new standards. Jamie Oliver has welcomed them. Dame Emma Thompson has called for children to get the lunch they deserve. The Government says the changes will improve nutrition, concentration, learning and wellbeing.
Meanwhile, pupils will be the ones staring down at the lentils.
So this week, we’re asking them: Do school dinners need to change?
There’s quite a lot packed into that question. Is healthier always better if you don’t like what’s being served? How much choice should pupils have? Would learning more about food make a difference? And what happens if pupils decide they’d rather bring a packed lunch instead?
These aren’t arguments against healthier school food. They’re questions worth asking the people who’ll actually be eating it.
So, was Jamie right?
Twenty-one years after Jamie’s School Dinners, Jamie Oliver is still campaigning for better school food. Looking back at some of our own school dinner memories, he probably did have a point.
But the school dinner of 2027 won’t be eaten by us. It’ll be eaten by the pupils sitting in school canteens now.
This week, they’re having their say. Their votes and comments will be shared with The Food Foundation, Chefs in Schools, School Food Matters, Bite Back and the Department for Education.
Perhaps in 20 years’ time they’ll be reminiscing fondly about the lentils.
Stranger things have happened.