Food for thought

As the Ka Ora Ka Ako school lunches hit headlines across the country, William Woodworth joins Marlborough providers Ngāti Rārua and recipient schools to speak about the programme six weeks into the new school year, and their experiences under the iwi-hapu partnership model pioneered by the iwi.

Each weekday, Ngāti Rārua’s Scott Street kitchen produces 613 meals destined for the stomachs of children across Marlborough.

Today, serving trays of ham, cheese and spinach quiche are coming hot out of the oven and into hotbox’s ready for their afternoon delivery – while separately the 58 dietary requirement meals are made and into containers for their recipients.

It’s a slick commercial kitchen operation, with happy and fulfilled staff – but does that translate to the meals.

“To be honest, it's amazing - the quality of kai that comes into our schools is incredible”, says Spring Creek principal Cheryl Alderlieste.

“The kids certainly have favorites - when it's Mac and Cheese day we get full attendances, and they love sausages and mash and the build your own burger or sandwich days -

“Times are tough for many, so knowing that their kids come to school and have a good lunch is amazing for so many whanau.

“We encourage whanau to pop in and have kai with us, and they’re blown away - it takes this big pressure off parents knowing their kids are fed well and we either gift leftovers which is well received or feed our animals.

“The kids get a nutritious lunch, and when you see them come back for more it’s concrete proof they like it, so we’re very grateful that the kids get this opportunity

“When the Ka Ora Ka Ako team ask for improvement ideas, we don’t have any”.

Ngāti Rārua was crucial in the inclusion of an Iwi-Hapu supplier model to school lunches, with Michelle Lavender pitching the first Iwi-Hapu model which was adopted as a country-wide option.

“Original tenders went through usual Government means, we applied and were rejected for not having a catering track record, but we argued the thousands of meals we can do at the drop of a hat at marae had to mean for something” she says.

“For us, it's a values decision rather than an economic decision - our motivation is our long-term vision of being kind to all peoples, so everybody is better off”, says Ka Ora Ka Ako manager Michelle James.

“The short-term is feeding kids, but long-term the whole region does better when kids eat well, learn at school, practise sharing and learn where their food comes from”.

Cheryl says the benefits are obvious through each school day and beyond.

“Lunch time starts at one and we eat at 1.40 so the kids get their play first, have lunch together served by senior students, and go into class for with full tummies and are really settled - it's made a huge difference.

“They’ve been more than getting lunches – a good example is chickpeas, as kids love hummus with carrot sticks so they bought the raw and baked chickpeas and made some here.

“When we first signed up, Ngāti Rārua gave us a Karakia Kai the kids still lead, and we’d give food parcels from our gardens and orchard for them to use for a lunch.

“We got contacted a lot last year because we would share photos on social media pages, and speaking with other principals who have come in and changed to the iwi-hapu model, it's just all positive”.

One new addition is Whitney Street School.

"We can taste the Aroha that goes into our school lunches and are so grateful that we have fresh, local food prepared just three minutes down the road by our whānau at Ngāti Rārua”, says principal Christee Dalzell.

“This partnership is more than just providing tasty meals; it's about strengthening our community, supporting local businesses, and ensuring our tamariki receive nutritious food."

“Schools are in the program for good outcomes, so we certainly hope they sort out the program nationally but it’s not easy to do”, adds Michelle.

“Our staff get to know individual dietary requirements so for parents and teachers it can be quite a relief knowing that care, which tribute to the skills and love of the staff that we have preparing those menus to a budget and nutritional guidelines, with the love that they put into those meals every day.”.

Self-service models at Spring Creek and Mayfield schools on reused trays and biodegradable containers for dietary requirements reduce environmental impacts, while Redwoodtown and Whitney Street schools are working out their best strategies.

And while headlines loom, Michelle they’ll continue doing their best.

“There's been no cutting of staff, no cutting quality, but we are looking at the future and how we can fill the gaps we see coming because we are conscious that we must be tighter on budget”, she says.

“We use a local butcher, greengrocer, and baker where possible, then suppliers like Bidfood and Trent’s, with rotating menu’s so schools know ahead of time what’s happening, and we get the costings right”.

“One recent downside is losing Rai Valley Area School - the School Lunch Collective didn’t want them, and we advocated for one another, but MoE wouldn’t contribute to even partial mileage which is really disappointing”.

“We're not in it as a business; we're in it as part of the school community - when my daughter started school in the UK, I loved knowing there was a healthy, hearty lunch as the norm".

“Despite cuts to $4 per meal we’re still able to do it well”, summarises Michelle Lavender.

“I feel sympathy for the School Lunch Collective’s impossible mission providing $3 per meal across the country, but for me it shows the best solutions are local ones”.