TAKING a pride in what you do is important. That is why it was delightful to share a meal prepared by young people who were justly proud of what they had created.

The young people were aged between seven and 10 years, all pupils at Landscore Primary School, Crediton and all members of the school Cookery Club.

They cooked and served a four course lunch for nine adults who included the Mayor of Crediton, Cllr Frank Letch and his wife, Natalia, the Rector, Preb Nigel Guthrie, and the school head, Gary Read.

Their tutor, nutritionist and author, Sarah Flower, is passionate about “real food” and children knowing what to do with it.

Born and educated in Crediton, Sarah began cooking as a very small child. “Mum and I would bake cakes and savouries for the week ahead every Sunday morning while making the roast, working on the philosophy of always filling your oven up.

“I trained to be a nutritionist after my son was diagnosed with meningitis at 15 months old. He couldn’t eat, so a dietician was sent to see me - she brought three tins of soup with her.

“I was so defused I decided to train in nutrition. I worked with cancer patients for almost 10 years before moving more into writing and journalism,” said Sarah. You might see her sometimes on BBC Spotlight.

She is finishing her 16th book about food and cooking, and about to begin her 17th . Her next book will be out in March, a sugar free, low carbohydrate family cookbook.

She has worked with Jamie Oliver and is working with The Food Revolution. “I am particularly passionate about children doing ‘real food’, so I approached Gary Read, the headteacher here, about doing a class during the day,” said Sarah.

“This is something I really feel strongly about. Cooking is an essential skill but gets neglected.

“We are now with the second generation of people who do not know how to cook and that is so sad. I love teaching cookery to any age but especially children because they are so enthusiastic,” added Sarah.

She has been running two classes a week at Landscore with up to 48 children. “We have done sausage rolls, making their own pastry, meringues, and a Bakewell tart in an hour and a half,” she said.

“I write for the Daily Mail and other newspapers, being at the school like this is my down time,” she added.

For their “VIP Lunch” at the school, they had made everything from scratch using fresh, local ingredients.

“The aim of the club is to teach children about health eating while encouraging them to enjoy experimenting with food and new recipes,” said Sarah.

“Food education and cookery is vital for any age, but particularly for children. My aim is to encourage the local community to support healthy eating and cookery incentives.

“It is wonderful that Landscore School has embraced teaching cookery, ensuring all the children have learnt basic cookery skills before moving on to secondary education.

“These children arrive every week with beaming faces ready to get stuck into cooking. It is a joy to work with them and I am very proud of what they have achieved,” said Sarah.

On the day we had our lunch, the dozen junior cooks had been in the kitchen since 9.30am. They had prepared roasted tomato and mascarpone soup with hand made bread rolls (yes, made by the group that morning and utterly delicious) and butter.

Main course was baked salmon with minted new potatoes, green salad, salsa relish and tomato and basil salad.

For dessert there were individual mixed berry Pavlovas then fresh coffee served with mint chocolate brownies. It was all quite delicious and totally worth being served in a “proper” restaurant instead of a school classroom.

The chefs, who became waiters as well, were: Harvey Muffit, Daisy Cram, Ella Turvey, Harry Vincent, Eric Baily, Izaak Cook, Norbert Wieczorek, Honorata Karp, Casey Hill, Ellen Garnsworthy, Tia Faid and Louis Garnsworthy.

Tesco had donated £10 towards the cost of the food. Each child took home a copy of the menu. As well as the four-course meal, they cooked their own lunch of pizza with a pudding.

Sue Read