Spaghetti, sirloin steak and "kuřízek" - these are the three most popular school meals for children in the Czech Republic. Not only traditional sauce dishes compete with the favourites, but surprisingly, even vegetable couscous is not to be missed by young diners.
This is based on a detailed analysis of lunch menus consumed last school year in more than 260 school restaurants and cafeterias Primirest. The company is the largest provider of school meals in the Czech Republic, catering for almost 30,000 pupils and students of kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. From an analysis of an average of half a million portions per month, it is clear that school lunches in the Czech Republic continue to be dominated by the classics and new tastes are only gradually finding their way into standard school menus.
Spaghetti everywhere you look. Forget ketchup and cheese.
Spaghetti was the clear winner in the ranking of popularity of food and children's appetites, across different categories. Kids love it in the classic bolognese style - it's the absolute winner in the main course category. But they also love the Sorentina spaghetti (3rd place in the FIT food category), the vegan lentil spaghetti bolognese (3rd place in the meatless category) and the spaghetti with organic beef (3rd place in the meatless category). Spaghetti as the convincing winner of the imaginary children's hit parade of main dishes dethroned the ageless queen of Czech gastronomy - sirloin steak on cream - followed by fried chicken breast fillet.
"Kids just love pasta. I'm glad that vegan lentil spaghetti bolognese also appeared on the list. Lentils are a great food that is full of fibre and vegetable protein," comments on the victory of spaghetti Christina Ostratická, nutrition expert and Fit Brand Chef of the company Delirest a Primirest. As for the couscous, she was not surprised: "It's actually a pasta too, so the kids just underlined their choice with couscous."
"As soon as we offer children pasta with red sauce, they immediately reach for it. They automatically think of pasta with ketchup and it's easier to 'sneak' lentils into such a dish. Otherwise, when it comes to pulses, children also love lentils in sour sauce or pea porridge, they generally like sweet and sour flavours." comments on the results Tomas Cikhart, Brand Chef Primirest.
Soup is the most inconvenient way to get vegetables into children
Hand on heart, getting enough vegetables into children can be a challenge. Soups are the easiest and best way to go. There is never a shortage of them at Primirest, and it seems that children hear more than just the classic noodle soups. The imaginary gold medal for the most popular soup goes to beef broth, but right behind are vegetable soups with couscous and buckwheat. In fourth place is the classic school carrot soup, and the top five are rounded off by leek and egg soup. What happened to the children's "stalwart", tomato and dripping? "It hasn't gone anywhere, it's still very popular. Now we make it with oatmeal. However, the results show that children prefer broths," explains Cikhart.
"In the category of soups I was pleasantly surprised by buckwheat, it is not easy to get it into a child's diet. The fact that it is there just proves that our cooks can prepare it in a way that children like, which is not only great news from a nutritional point of view," adds Ostratická.
The sweet tastes of childhood do not change
In the ranking of sweet dishes, ducat buns defended their last year's sovereign victory, which clearly won this category over another sweet staple of school menus - semolina porridge with cocoa and alpine dumplings, which came third among children.
The tastes of childhood seem to remain constant. "Who among us didn't love it as a child?" Ostratická asks rhetorically and adds: "As long as you don't overdo it with sugary foods and the diet is basically balanced and nutritious, then it's fine." Therefore, children can only enjoy a sweet meal twice a month in Primirest's canteens.
Primirest's kitchens also do not forget about nutritionally balanced snacks. They are made daily, by hand and directly in the individual kitchens to ensure they are fresh and meet the so-called snack decree. This makes it easier for parents to get to school and work in the morning, as they do not have to worry about preparing them. The snacks children most often choose are milk and cornflakes, a roll with butter and an egg or broccoli spread.
When beef, always in organic quality at Primirest
Beef dishes are prepared exclusively from organic meat in Primirest restaurants and canteens. The highest quality of the raw material is reflected in the growing interest of children - steadily the most popular choice on the menu is beef goulash, sirloin steak, Znojemská or Stroganoff noodles.
The inclination towards traditional sauces and fried foods reflects more the taste preferences, or familiarity with specific dishes by children and their parents, than the overall offer and possibilities of school kitchens. To promote new ingredients, ingredients and recipes, the mascot of good lunches in Primirest's school restaurants and canteens, the Colour Eater, tries to teach children in a playful way about variety and variety on the plate, what an ideal portion should look like, or that lunch does not have to be fried and contain meat.
Children can choose from a minimum of three meals each day
- The traditional menu corresponds to the consumption basket given by Decree No. 17/2015 Coll. on school meals, so it is nutritionally balanced.
- Another is inspired by foreign countries, so children can discover the tastes of India, Vietnam, China or Thailand.
- There is also a full-fledged vegetarian dish without meat.
- In addition, Primirest will be preparing one gluten-reduced meal from September 2023.
- New for the 2024/2025 school year will be the 100% veggie menu, which we are currently testing and will launch in all school restaurants and canteens in the coming weeks.
"Parents have the opportunity to choose together with their children the food that they really like, because until a certain age the choice of the schoolchild's lunch is the parent's choice. However, some parents don't want to experiment at all and prefer to choose food they know well from home - which is a shame, because a school restaurant is the ideal place for children to be introduced to different tastes and smells from around the world," points out Cikhart. As children's tastes are very variable, new dishes and specialties are introduced in Primirest's school restaurants and canteens gradually. This is done through a special event called the Gastrocalendar, where new dishes are added to the menu every third week of the month. Again, the dates decide which dish impresses diners enough to become a permanent fixture on the daily menu at Primirest.
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