School pupils challenged to serve up winning soup in apprentice contest

Pupils will be set an 'Alan Sugar' inspired task. They will be asked to make and promote a healthy soup using mostly locally grown produce, taking into account packaging and labelling, the nutritional value, suitable ingredients ingredient origins and, why these would make a tasty soup. Another aspect to the challenge will be where pupils will work in teams, form their own companies, name their product and market and advertise their product as well. Like 'The Apprentice', pupils will be expected to make a 'pitch' and present their new soup to a panel. Cheryl Sharp, HR manager at Macphie will take on the role of 'Mrs Sugar' and will hire the successful team. The prize is for the winning soup to be recreated by Macphie chef's for the school pupils, parents and teachers to enjoy. This is just one of the activities being organised as part of 'A Future on Food', an SFDF programme that helps teachers, pupils and parents better understand where their food comes from and how it's produced. Moira Stalker, national co-ordinator of 'A Future in Food' said: "We hope to inspire pupils by engaging with them in a fun and interactive way. The food industry is a perfect way to teach pupils a range of skills – from enterprise and marketing to nutrition and sustainable food production." Sue Bird, knowledge exchange manager at the Rowett Institute for Nutrition and Health will be on hand to explain to pupils the health and nutritional aspects of making their soup. Bird said: "We hope this project will provide inspiration for other schools to undertake a cross-curricular project linked to food and health, which is completely in line with the Curriculum for Excellence. It will be fascinating to see how the pupils develop their project and I'm really looking forward to tasting the winning soup!"