PAC Food cooks up pac'ked lunches
Plymouth Arts Centre Food – PAC Food – has won a tender to provide school meals for children at a new school in Plymouth, inspired by Jamie Oliver.
From the start of term, children at the new Plymouth School of Creative Arts, based in Millbay, will be eating home-made food cooked in the kitchen at Barbican-based Plymouth Arts Centre.
Head Chef at Plymouth Arts Centre Food is Sammy Lounds, a protégé of Jamie Oliver from Fifteen Cornwall, who will be following in the footsteps of his mentor in trying to raise the quality of school dinners and encouraging young children to eat healthily.
As in the restaurant at Plymouth Arts Centre, the menus at the school will be created from scratch using sustainable and local produce. The children will enjoy traditional home-made dishes such as lasagne, chicken pie or sausage casserole, but Sammy is also keen to introduce the children to dishes more typical of restaurant dining including Frito Misto - Mediterranean vegetables in tempura batter followed by Frangipane.
For Sammy personally, showcasing local produce simply is his motivation. Sammy wants to bring this to young children, taking common or well-known dishes that they recognise and reviving those using very robust and vibrant flavours.
Sammy says of the new venture: “To provide quality food, made from scratch is something I have embraced since Jamie's school dinner campaign. The team here and at the school understand the true importance of food, its nutritional value and the need for good produce to enrich lives and palates. It’s an exciting chapter for all of us”.
Dave Strudwick, Headmaster from Plymouth School of the Creative Arts says: “Food is a universal and historical language that is part of who we are and where we come from. It is our link to the soil, to seasons and to our own and others’ cultural identity. Food is a firm part of our curriculum offer so it is great to work with a chef of Sammy’s calibre on our journey to making lunchtimes a vital and positive part of the rhythm of each school day.”
Sammy has been with Plymouth Arts Centre since 2011. Since training at Fifteen Cornwall, learning the basics and gaining an amazing step up into the trade he has worked at such establishments as Gordon Ramsey’s Claridges, with Michael Caines at Gidleigh Park and at Restaurant Nathan Outlaw. In 2012 the restaurant at Plymouth Arts Centre was awarded ‘Best Restaurant’ award by the Plymouth Food Awards and in 2013, Sammy won the Best Progression Award from Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall.
From 9 September, from their Looe Street premises, Plymouth Arts Centre will also be selling boxed School PAC Lunches for workers and visitors to the City Centre to either eat in or take away at a cost of £4.
Plymouth School of Creative Arts is a 4-16 mainstream, city centre all-through school sponsored by Plymouth College of Art.
