McCain Teaches more School Children about Potato Provenance
9th January 2007. Next week, McCain Foods (GB) Ltd will tour its interactive schools programme, The Potato Story, to Westfield Primary (16th January 2007) and Fallings Park school (17th January 2007) in Wolverhampton.
The Potato Story is aimed at children aged seven to 11 (years 2 to 6) and shows them how a potato starts as a seed in a field and ends up on their plate as an oven chip. Designed to teach children in a fun and engaging way about where their food really comes from, the Wolverhampton schools are the third in a series of proposed nationwide visits.
McCain developed the programme in response to growing concern surrounding children’s lack of understanding about food provenance. The Potato Story is an effective way of addressing the School Meals Review Panel’s recommendation that school children learn about where food comes from and how it is prepared. Additionally, McCain hopes to counter concerning research released last year by the British Heart Foundation, which found that one in three children did not know that chips came from potatoes.
The children begin their journey through The Potato Story by planting their own potato seeds, by hand in a tub of dirt, then learning about the planting seasons as well as the different varieties of potatoes that are grown in the UK. They go on to learn about the harvesting process and how McCain tests and selects for quality. The final stage shows children how the selected potato is carefully prepared before it takes its final journey to their plate as an oven chip.
Each child receives their own ‘Potato Passport’ at the start of the story. At each stage of the journey, the pupils answer questions about what they have learnt and receive a stamp in their passport before continuing to the next stage.
The Potato Story was originally exhibited at a range of Countryside Days over the summer of 2006, including The Great Yorkshire Show. From this springboard, McCain developed a programme of school visits targeting children from urban areas who are often unaware of where their food comes from. Launched in September last year at Daubeney Primary School in Hackney, London, the programme was received with much enthusiasm.
Mrs Wanda Noakes, Headmistress of Daubeney Primary School said: “We were so delighted when McCain approached us to bring The Potato Story to our school. We are always looking for innovative ways to engage with and entertain the children and learning about where their food comes from is also a very important lesson for them”.
Simon Eyles, Communications Director, McCain Foods (GB) Ltd, when commenting on McCain’s commitment to educating children about food provenance, said: “As a responsible food manufacturer, McCain recognises that it an help children better understand where their food comes from and teach them the basic principles of enjoying a healthy and balanced diet. The Potato Story is a truly effective way of achieving this in an engaging, fun, learning-based environment which appeals to children of primary school age”.
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Note to Editors:
In addition to The Potato Story, McCain has worked on a range of other initiatives which reach out to children in schools. Vegetables in Disguise was a local school competition to design recipes for a new vegetable-based McCain product, in response to the DfES School Meals Review Panel, which issued recommendations that children should be taught food preparation and cooking skills in the context of healthy eating. A second project, in support of a British Potato Council competition, was Grow Your Own Potatoes 2006, where McCain provided potato seeds to selected primary schools who planted then harvested their crop this summer. McCain awarded the schools producing the heaviest crop with sports equipment.