QMS dishes up Tasty Little Lamb Week for Scottish schools

Secondary schoolchildren up and down the country have gotten a taste for lamb thanks to a successful initiative celebrating red meat.
Pupils from Ellon Academy took part in the initiativePupils from Ellon Academy took part in the initiative
Pupils from Ellon Academy took part in the initiative

QMS’s Tasty Little Lamb Week, which coincided with #LambForStAndrewsDay, was created to encourage Scottish schoolchildren to expand their palates and eat lamb – a red meat that Scotland has in abundance.

The recent initiative saw more than 18,500 pupils – including children from Ellon Academy – take part and cook with around 1.85 tonnes of lamb.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Following on from a successful Tasty Little Pork Week in September, QMS worked closely with Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers Scotland (IAAS) to deliver the #LambForStAndrewsDay in school initiative. IAAS received lamb donations to their ‘lamb bank’ from over 500 businesses which they distributed to local butchers ready for collection by the teachers.

Schools taking part in this year’s Meat Voucher Scheme also received a Tasty Little Lamb Week resources pack, which included step-by-step recipe cards, a worksheet, lesson plan, PowerPoint version of the recipes and The Red Meat Key Nutrition Facts poster.

The worksheet covered three key themes – seasonality, locality and labelling to allow pupils to learn about the Scotch difference, making informed choices and the benefits of eating lamb as part of a healthy and sustainable diet.

Shaunee Hepburn, a home economics teacher at Ellon Academy, said: “Pupils at Ellon Academy really enjoyed the Tasty Little Lamb Week demonstration and were engaged throughout the session. They were willing to volunteer, answer questions and listen to the chef discuss the benefits of Scotch lamb and the local produce used in the dishes.

“Generally, we found that lamb is a protein that many of the pupils don’t have at the dinner table, so the cookery demo has been a chance for them to take ideas home that the whole family can enjoy. They particularly enjoyed getting to try the dish at the end, a lot of pupils tasting lamb for the first time.”

Jennifer Robertson, Health & Education Manager at QMS, said: “We’re delighted that Tasty Little Lamb Week was such a success and that we are able to offer cookery demonstrations again up and down the country, allowing more children across Scotland to cook and taste delicious lamb. The feedback we received on our recipes was very positive and the Scotch Lamb Naan Pizza seemed to be a real winner – I think it will become a dinnertime staple going forward!”

Keep up to date with such initiatives by following Make it Scotch Education on Twitter, or signing up for the education newsletter via https://education.qmscotland.co.uk/FarmingFoodsteps/