Mid-day meal competition: Children likely to judge food served in state govt schools

Bengaluru: Over one lakh midday meal workers at the taluk, district and state-level might be able to showcase their culinary skills in the mid-day meal competition, which is likely to be judged by the children themselves.

The department of public instruction is organising the contest with the aim of making the midday meals more attractive for children. Currently, as many as 40,000 government schools in the state serve midday meals for the students.

While the cooks will be allowed to prepare different dishes or make changes in the existing ones for the sake of the competition they will have to adhere to the guidelines that prioritise adequate intake of protein and other nutrients. The food so prepared will be tasted by experts and nutritionists to check if the nutrients meet the required guidelines.

Initially it was decided that the contest would be judged by a senior official from the department of public instruction but now it seems that the children who get to eat these meals may also get to judge the food.

Meanwhile the government is planning to introduce nutrition gardens in every government school. Greens grown here can be used for the midday meals.