David Seymour tries out one of the new lunches. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
At least one principal is unhappy with the changes to the free school lunch menu.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour on Tuesday revealed the new school lunches menu that will hit cafeterias at the start of Term 1 next year.
The dishes include butter chicken curry, chicken katsu, lasagne and cold chicken pasta salad and wraps - all at a cost of $3 dollars a head.
Seymour said the new menu will save millions of dollars more than expected - and did not taste too bad either.
However, Arakura School principal, Tute Mila, said the internal school catering model worked best, with the school community creating and delivering food to tamariki.
While the changes affecting her school would not happen for a year, she knew what to expect - kitchen staff at schools would lose their jobs and the sense of community the internal model of schools preparing and delivering food to pupils would be lost.
"That's a real shame because the internal model is a real community approach and makes a huge difference."
Her school has included the lunches as part of the curriculum, with good nutrition and exercise a focus as well taking part in the Gardens to Table programme.
Science and technology was part of work the children did in the school garden and they were learning how to grow their food.
"Because they're part of that process they're more willing to eat the healthy foods that they get for lunch. It's really having an impact on their relationship with food ...it's much bigger than just feeding the puku."
Mila said she would like to see the modelling that produced the cost of $3 for the government's new way of delivering the school lunches.
She pointed out that some children had allergies and other dietary requirements which made a school lunch programme more complex and expensive.
The coalition announced plans to scale back the cost of the Ka ora, Ka ako free school lunch programme in intermediate and high schools in early May.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
