City Catering teams serve up exclusive menu, with Masterchef winner
This week we were excited to bring a celebration lunch of nutritious hot and tasty food to some of our member school children in Southampton for the UK City of Culture bid.
Our participating City Catering member schools were treated to a special and exclusive UK City of Culture 2025 bid celebration menu created and developed in partnership with Southampton’s local BBC MasterChef winner and bid trustee, Shelina Permalloo. We aimed to make the school lunch enriching for children to explore different flavours and dishes that represent the diverse international communities of Southampton.
Some of our member primary schools that took part included Fairisle Junior, Moorlands, Thornhill, Kanes Hill, Weston Park, Redridge and St. Johns where we were joined by Masterchef’s Shelina who got stuck in and helped our fantastic kitchen staff throughout the day.
The dishes included a tasty Mauritian Turkey Coconut Curry, Afghani Style Pilau Rice as well as a Pineapple Upside Down Cake with Nutmeg Custard which received some glowing and positive feedback amongst the children. A photo that encapsulated the day perfectly was one of our Area Catering Manager’s Caroline Shattock with her grandson giving the menu a big thumbs up below:
That morning, our Charitable Impact Manager, Jessica Clasby-Monk spoke of her excitement on BBC Radio Solent in anticipation of the celebration menu and how important the day was for the city. You can listen to the full audio clip below:
Southampton submitted its bid to become UK City of Culture 2025 last month. The shortlist is expected next week and we are eagerly anticipating the results. The honour is awarded by the government to a city in the UK every four years. If successful in reaching the final four, Southampton will be visited by a panel of judges in early May.
A special thank you to the entire City of Culture Bid Team, Shelina Permalloo for helping us bring it all together, and to Robin Creative Media, & BBC South for capturing the day
If you would like to get a taster of the day, we have made the recipes available online as part of our Cooking at Home resources, empowering everyone to get involved in healthy home-cooking. Why not give them a go?