Feast of vegetables and new flavours in the middle of the school day in Espoo

Finnish vegetables and nutritious school food partied on the plates of Espoo children on 1 april 2022 at Monikon koulu school.

Finland’s harvest produces a lot of tasty food ingredients and side dishes for meals all year round. Vegetables are an easy way to add colour and flavour to any dish, and the diverse use of vegetables is happily on the rise.

The Finnish school lunch is an important part of the school day and a source of pride for the world’s happiest people. Legislation brought a free lunch to all Finnish schools in 1948. The school lunch has been an important part of the school day ever since, both as a social event and as part of curriculum-based food education. Good food helps you learn.

As the spring sun was shining, it was the time to celebrate the Vilkas day of domestic, responsibly produced vegetables on 1 April 2022 with some tasty and colourful Finnish food.

Espoo Catering and Apetit set the table with colourful new vegetarian options and mouth-watering treats at Monikon koulu school centre in Leppävaara on 1 April 2022. The feast of vegetables was organised in cooperation with the school, pupils and kitchen staff.

School meals have changed over time with the changes in children and food culture. “We want to help increase the popularity of vegetables and vegetarian food, introduce pupils to new flavours and produce great culinary experiences. Clean Finnish food has earned its day of celebration,” say Sirpa Pennanen, Head Chef at Monikon koulu school and Ville Kivinen, Product Developer at Espoo Catering. “We have a long-standing cooperation with Apetit, and we are happy to bring new vegetarian dishes to children’s plates again,” says Regina Ekroos, Development Manager at Espoo Catering.

The most important results of the event were the children’s own opinions on the food. They got to vote, for example, on the taste of the food during lunch.

Vegetarian lunch options were Indian vegetarian casserole and mini Jauhis balls with tomato paste.

- These were really good. Yes, you could put them on the list, commented pupils Sofia Suurpää and Jasmin Lammintausta.

And how did the vote go? The mini Jauhis balls won by just a small difference in the vote.