Tom Aikens cooks with students

School Food Matters has teamed up once again with multi-award winning chef, Tom Aikens, to deliver another Cooking Ideas session. Designed to promote cooking in schools and to encourage families to have a go at preparing simple and nutritious meals, Cooking Ideas connects acclaimed chefs with London schools to run hands-on practical cooking session with students.

Tom Aikens said "I really enjoy cooking with students and showing them the fun and healthy side of cooking. Eating a well balanced diet is essential to their age group and I hope they will be inspired to make the recipes again at home".

New Kings Primary School in Fulham is the latest lucky school selected by School Food Matters to cook with Tom. Twelve students from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 who attend the New Kings After School Cooking Club will be learning to prepare two new tasty dishes. Recipes from the session will be available on the School Food Matters website for families to download and try at home.

Assistant Head Teacher, Clare James said "We are honoured to host this School Food Matters event at New Kings as we have a real commitment to our children eating a daily healthy lunch and recognizing the effects of food and exercise on fitness. Having such a gifted role model as Tom to lead a cookery session will be an incredible experience for our children and one we are all greatly looking forward to."

Stephanie Wood, Founder and Director of School Food Matters, said "The Cooking Ideas project started in 2009 as there is simply no better way to excite children about healthy and delicious food than to get them to cook it themselves. We are very grateful to Tom for his considerable commitment to this programme."

School Food Matters is a registered charity based in London that campaigns for fresh sustainable food in schools and for children to understand where their food comes from. To achieve this SFM listens to schools, parents and children. Together they urge local authorities to improve school meals and to support food education through cooking, growing and links with local farms. www.schoolfoodmatters.com