School meals with a side of education

Service Manager Marjo Sundström  from Espoo Catering offers food education at Mainingin koulu. Her goal is to improve eating habits and table manners and to reduce food waste.   

What are the duties of a service manager? 
I order food from Espoo Catering’s central kitchen and prepare it for serving. During meal times, I supervise, guide and instruct pupils to behave well and encourage them to taste all the foods.  

What are today’s shcool meals like?  
In accordance with the city’s guidelines, we offer vegetarian food once a week. The use of red meat has been reduced, and it will be partially replaced with plant-based proteins in the future.  

With our diverse student body, our meals are becoming more international. One example of the new additions is Indian butter chicken.  

How does Mainingin koulu reduce food waste?  
At Mainingin koulu, the food panel – consisting of Espoo Catering staff, teachers and pupils – collaborates on ideas to improve the lunch experience and reduce waste.   

It is essential to order the right amount of food and instruct the pupils to take only what they eat. If there are leftovers from lunch, I sell them to school staff or serve them as side dishes the next day.  

Every semester, pupils at schools in Espoo vote for their favourite dishes, which we then offer more often.  The most popular dishes are chicken nuggets, spinach pancakes, rice porridge, macaroni casserole and minced meat tortillas.  

What I love about my job
The late President Mauno Koivisto was one of my first customers in my catering career, and now I am raising future restaurant-goers. It’s wonderful when a pupil comes to thank you after a meal. I’m also happy about the honourable mention I was awarded by Finfood – Finnish Food Information for my food education work.  

Text: Veli Ville Mattila, videon kuvaus ja editointi: Tero Ikäheimonen

This article has originally been published in the Espoo-lehti 3/2024. Read other articles in the Espoo-lehti.