The high-tech bus, a combined state of the art kitchen and classroom, visited Isaac Newton Secondary School in east Hull. The bus, funded by Yorkshire Forward, tours the region providing lessons for both pupils and teachers from primary and secondary schools. The campaign, Focus on Food, is designed to raise awareness of neglected cooking skills in schools.  | | Sarah Helliwell: |
One of the aims of the project is to support food science in schools, a subject which has gone into decline in recent years. Despite being a core part of the school curriculum many schools do not have the facilities to teach the subject. An additional problem is that many teachers have not had training in providing cooking lessons.  | | The students show off their skills |
Sarah Helliwell, a trainer on the bus, says that teaching the teachers is an important part of the process. “We try and go round and support the work teachers are doing and give them confidence and ideas they can use in the classroom.” As well as teaching practical skills, the sessions are designed to make the children aware of the importance of a healthy diet; fish, fruit and vegetables feature heavily in the recipes. It is also an opportunity to make people more adventurous in their tastes. Dishes come from around the world and feature ingredients which children might not have tried before. Pupils at Isaac Newton tried their hand at making Polish pasties, Smoked Haddock Jalousie and Caribbean Fruit Salad. | 
