In the city of Flown, which is located in the central part of Sweden, Annika Erickson, the chef of the school cafeteria, attracted special attention of the municipality. She diversified the menu of schoolchildren so much that officials had great doubts about the correctness of her approach. On the one hand, introducing homemade bread into the daily diet of children and diversifying the usual menu with fifteen types of vegetables for lunch is a pretty good idea, but local authorities considered it unfair to students of other schools who do not have such an opportunity.
In addition, the abundance of delicious food does not fit into the framework of the school’s healthy nutrition program, which was adopted by government in 2011. The Local reported that despite protests, local authorities had to ban Ericsson from offering children a large selection of food. They strongly recommended that the chef return to the usual lunch for schoolchildren, which, in their opinion, meets all the criteria and requirements of a healthy diet program in schools.
Katerina Lindberg, the responsible person for the healthy nutrition program, explained that the menu proposed by the authorities was developed only to improve the nutritional quality of schoolchildren several times, so all school canteens should unconditionally follow it.
Such a decision of the municipality outraged many parents and children, because Ericsson liked the children who enjoyed the school cafeteria with great pleasure. According to The Local, fourth-grade students even made a petition requesting that the school introduce the menu introduced by their chef.
Annika Erickson herself was dissatisfied with such an unfair decision. She noted that the menu she proposed did not require additional spending from the city budget, and was developed in accordance with the taste preferences of the children. According to the chef, the school canteen should offer lunch to the taste of any student, and the standard menu, which corresponds to the healthy eating program, will not make it possible to do this.
Despite her beliefs, Annike Erickson will still have to go back to the previous menu and refuse the children home-made bread, replacing it with purchased bread.
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