This week sees primary school children across Leeds enjoying fruit and veg, art and cooking. Cook au Van, a mobile art gallery and restaurant, is visiting schools in Leeds as part of the Grab 5! project.
This week sees primary school children across Leeds enjoying fruit and veg, art
and cooking. Cook au Van, a mobile art gallery and restaurant, is visiting
schools in Leeds as part of the Grab 5! project. Grab 5! is all about encouraging
7-11 year olds to eat more fruit and veg. Everyone knows we should be eating
more fruit and veg for better health but few of us, particularly children, manage to
eat the recommended five portions per day. Grab 5! Is working with primary
schools to tackle the key barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption –
affordability, availability. And acceptability.
In Leeds 34 schools have adopted Grab 5! and the project has commissioned
Cook Au Van artists and chefs; Julian Gillespie, John Merril and Scot Fletcher to
help deliver the message. Cook Au Van (1) is their mobile art gallery, restaurant
and kitchen which they take to the schools to spend a whole day with the
children looking at delicious ways of eating fruit and veg.
The day starts off with a 'Ready Steady Cook' style assembly to the whole
school. Thirty children then work with the chefs/artists making a range of healthy
dishes. There are lots of opportunities for tasting and learning about fruits and
vegetables and in the afternoon the children make artworks around the theme of
food for 'Grande Finale' at home time. The art is placed on and around the van
[for example, 6 foot pink hands, 12 foot long wooden spoons and jelly chairs!]
and the chefs serve the food prepared by the children to the whole school and
parents.
The children, complete with Grab 5! recipe books, can recreate their experiences
at home. The response of the schools so far has been overwhelmingly positive,
with both teaches and children claiming that it was the best day of their school
careers so far!
Contact Details:
Sustain and Grab 5!: Kate Bowie, 07764582459
Cook au Van: Julian Gillespie, 07961 434 980
For photo opportunities and interviews with school representatives Cook au Van will be
visiting the following schools on the following dates:
• Tuesday 16 April,
Jan Toothill
Beckett Park Primary School, Foxcroft Close, Leeds, LS6 3NT
0113 214 4563
• Wed 17 April
Jane Otley
St. Bartholomew's Primary , Strawberry Lane, Armley, Leeds, LS12 1SF
0113 263 9292
• Thurs 18 April
Nicky Crowther
Brudenell Primary, Welton Place, Leeds, LS17 5DJ
0113 278 5168
Notes:
(1) COOK AU VAN
'Cook Au Van' was launched in 1999 at the Liverpool Biennial. Cook Au Van is a combination of
an art gallery and a restaurant - a piece of social sculpture so to speak. The project has involved a
number of local artists, and artists from abroad. In 2000 Cook Au Van took part in a number of
exhibitions in Cologne, Germany which included work created for the van by school children at St
Christopher's Primary School in Speke. This year will see Cook Au Van involved in an exhibition in
Berlin, Germany in August and work with Sustain on the Grab 5! project, promoting fruit and
vegetables to primary school children. The Cook Au Van team has also developed a pilot for a TV
show of the same name which is currently being shown to TV companies in the UK and the USA.
(2) THE GRAB 5! PROJECT
Grab 5! is a project being run by Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming (2) and
funded by the Community Fund. It is currently working with primary schools in Lambeth, Leeds
and Plymouth. Adopting a whole school approach the project seeks to support the curriculum with
practical activities that provide children with the opportunity to taste, feel, cook, smell, eat and
grow fruit and vegetables. Activities include fruit tuck shops, breakfast clubs, cooking classes,
growing clubs, visits to farms and supermarkets, reward schemes, competitions, chef
demonstrations and working with school caterers. Schools are provided with a range of materials
including a toolkit, a curriculum pack, posters and training days. Local steering groups have been
established in all three areas to support the project locally and, at the national level, Grab 5! is
advised by a large working party comprising experienced representatives from organisations
across the private, public and voluntary sectors. Grab 5! will be spreading to other areas across
the country next year.
(3) SUSTAIN, THE ALLIANCE FOR BETTER FOOD AND FARMING
Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and
practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and
living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. Sustain represents over 100
national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level.
ENDS
and cooking. Cook au Van, a mobile art gallery and restaurant, is visiting
schools in Leeds as part of the Grab 5! project. Grab 5! is all about encouraging
7-11 year olds to eat more fruit and veg. Everyone knows we should be eating
more fruit and veg for better health but few of us, particularly children, manage to
eat the recommended five portions per day. Grab 5! Is working with primary
schools to tackle the key barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption –
affordability, availability. And acceptability.
In Leeds 34 schools have adopted Grab 5! and the project has commissioned
Cook Au Van artists and chefs; Julian Gillespie, John Merril and Scot Fletcher to
help deliver the message. Cook Au Van (1) is their mobile art gallery, restaurant
and kitchen which they take to the schools to spend a whole day with the
children looking at delicious ways of eating fruit and veg.
The day starts off with a 'Ready Steady Cook' style assembly to the whole
school. Thirty children then work with the chefs/artists making a range of healthy
dishes. There are lots of opportunities for tasting and learning about fruits and
vegetables and in the afternoon the children make artworks around the theme of
food for 'Grande Finale' at home time. The art is placed on and around the van
[for example, 6 foot pink hands, 12 foot long wooden spoons and jelly chairs!]
and the chefs serve the food prepared by the children to the whole school and
parents.
The children, complete with Grab 5! recipe books, can recreate their experiences
at home. The response of the schools so far has been overwhelmingly positive,
with both teaches and children claiming that it was the best day of their school
careers so far!
Contact Details:
Sustain and Grab 5!: Kate Bowie, 07764582459
Cook au Van: Julian Gillespie, 07961 434 980
For photo opportunities and interviews with school representatives Cook au Van will be
visiting the following schools on the following dates:
• Tuesday 16 April,
Jan Toothill
Beckett Park Primary School, Foxcroft Close, Leeds, LS6 3NT
0113 214 4563
• Wed 17 April
Jane Otley
St. Bartholomew's Primary , Strawberry Lane, Armley, Leeds, LS12 1SF
0113 263 9292
• Thurs 18 April
Nicky Crowther
Brudenell Primary, Welton Place, Leeds, LS17 5DJ
0113 278 5168
Notes:
(1) COOK AU VAN
'Cook Au Van' was launched in 1999 at the Liverpool Biennial. Cook Au Van is a combination of
an art gallery and a restaurant - a piece of social sculpture so to speak. The project has involved a
number of local artists, and artists from abroad. In 2000 Cook Au Van took part in a number of
exhibitions in Cologne, Germany which included work created for the van by school children at St
Christopher's Primary School in Speke. This year will see Cook Au Van involved in an exhibition in
Berlin, Germany in August and work with Sustain on the Grab 5! project, promoting fruit and
vegetables to primary school children. The Cook Au Van team has also developed a pilot for a TV
show of the same name which is currently being shown to TV companies in the UK and the USA.
(2) THE GRAB 5! PROJECT
Grab 5! is a project being run by Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming (2) and
funded by the Community Fund. It is currently working with primary schools in Lambeth, Leeds
and Plymouth. Adopting a whole school approach the project seeks to support the curriculum with
practical activities that provide children with the opportunity to taste, feel, cook, smell, eat and
grow fruit and vegetables. Activities include fruit tuck shops, breakfast clubs, cooking classes,
growing clubs, visits to farms and supermarkets, reward schemes, competitions, chef
demonstrations and working with school caterers. Schools are provided with a range of materials
including a toolkit, a curriculum pack, posters and training days. Local steering groups have been
established in all three areas to support the project locally and, at the national level, Grab 5! is
advised by a large working party comprising experienced representatives from organisations
across the private, public and voluntary sectors. Grab 5! will be spreading to other areas across
the country next year.
(3) SUSTAIN, THE ALLIANCE FOR BETTER FOOD AND FARMING
Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and
practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and
living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. Sustain represents over 100
national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local level.
ENDS
Please click here to download the document
Published Tuesday 16 April 2002
Grab 5!: In June 2000, Sustain secured a grant of £650,000 from the National Lotteries Charities Board to be spread over three years, for 'a project to promote fruit and vegetables consumption amongst 7-11 year olds, with a focus on low income families'.
