Entries submitted by school catering teams were evaluated for their ‘creativity, enthusiasm and commitment’ to encourage children to try more vegetables during the campaign.
This year Tilda became the official sponsor of the Caterers’ Challenge and an additional category the Tilda Challenge was added in which school chefs were asked to create a dish that had the ‘perfect harmony’ of vegetables and rice.
Endeavour Primary School, the overall winner in both the Caterers’ Challenge and Tilda Challenge, received a trophy that will be presented to them at the LACA Awards for Excellence gala dinner on 7 July 2022, a certificate and a cheque for £500.
The judges selected Endeavour Primary School as the winner due to its Monster Market vegetable tasting stall, which became a gathering point to talk about vegetables. The judges were also impressed with how the team encouraged all different age groups of children to participate from posters to art displays and a recipe development competition.
Helen Palmer, headteacher of Endeavour Primary School, said: “We are thrilled that our catering team has been recognised for this prestigious award. They go over and above to engage and enthuse pupils in eating vegetables and the way they involve the children creatively makes all the difference to making it a highlight of the school term and even year.”
The Tilda Challenge winning rice and vegetable recipe will join Veg Power’s online recipe collection appearing alongside recipes by Jamie Oliver, Sir Paul McCartney and dozens of other famous chefs.
Annette Coggins, head of foodservice at Tilda UK, added: "The Mexican Rice Bowl with Beetroot Salsa created by the team at Endeavour is delicious and nutritious, using ingredients that their pupils absolutely love - like our Brown & White rice! The recipe embodies what Tilda is all about. We're passionate about bringing flavourful meals full of vegetables to children, that we know they'll enjoy and that are good for them too."