Benefits of FQA beef and lamb shared with thousands of pupils

Within a seven month period, from September 2021 to March 2022, the team of LMC cookery demonstrators delivered 375 cookery demonstrations in post primary schools across the province.

For over 20 years LMC has been proud to deliver highly sought after cookery demonstrations to post primary school pupils in Northern Ireland. Each demonstration is carefully tailored to compliment the curriculum for the age group present, with an overall focus on enhancing pupils’ confidence in cooking with a variety of Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured (NIFQA) beef and lamb cuts as well as raising awareness about the role of beef and lamb as part of a healthy diet and environment.

Commenting following the completion of this year’s programme LMC Marketing and Communications Manager Lauren Patterson said, “This year we have delivered a record breaking 375 cookery demonstrations. Our post primary demonstrations remain extremely successful, and, we have explored ways to broaden the scope of our education programme. Our stakeholders recognise the importance of engaging with young people in the school setting where many important life choices are informed and made. This year we decided to increase the target demographic for our cookery demonstrations, which led us to provide several demonstrations to primary school classes. With feedback overwhelmingly positive, we are delighted to confirm that plans are in the pipeline to roll out an enhanced educational offering to primary schools going forward.

“Our demonstrations can be tailored to support differing key stage curriculums, giving us an opportunity to share key facts and messages about nutrition, health and the environment with age appropriate audiences.

“LMC’s Northern Ireland Beef and Lamb Farm Quality Assurance Scheme (NIBL FQAS) is part of the GCSE and A Level syllabus. This teaches pupils about the origin of their high quality beef and lamb and gives them the chance to study key aspects of NIBL FQAS such as traceability, food security and sustainability. LMC demonstrations support this and afford pupils an opportunity to learn about how NIFQA farmers produce food to world leading standards for animal health, welfare and care for the environment.”

LMC Cookery Demonstrator Wendy Donaldson added, “Schools always enjoy our LMC demonstrations but particularly this year as pupils have missed having practical cookery lessons since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Our cookery demonstrations are a brilliant platform for sharing simple tasty recipes, sampling great cuts of NIFQA beef and lamb and educating pupils about its nutritional benefits. The recipes I prepare and cook in schools average around 45 minutes. It’s great to engage with pupils throughout and present amazing food in a short time. The best part for me is when pupils tell me that they plan to make it at home too!”

Encouraging teachers to keep an eye out for the opening of the next round of cookery demonstrations, Lauren said, “We aim to relaunch our cookery demonstrations for the new academic year in September. From previous years we know that our cookery demonstrations are highly sought after. While we always try to accommodate as many schools as possible, it is strongly advisable for teachers to book demonstrations in early September to ensure that their pupils don’t miss out.”

While school cookery demonstrations take a brief pause for the summer months, Lauren reiterated that the LMC education programme is constantly delivering for teachers and pupils across NI. She explained, “Feedback from this round of school cookery demonstrations has led to the development of a new resource booklet which will be launched at Balmoral Show in just a few weeks’ time. In addition to this, our educational website, www.food4life.org.uk has a host of resources to compliment lesson plans available throughout the year. We are currently redesigning this website with the hope to make resources as easily accessible as possible for teachers. The relaunch of our school cookery demonstrations will coincide with the unveiling of our new educational website this year. There’s lots going on behind the scenes, so keep your eyes peeled for updates in the weeks ahead!”