Gordonstoun has launched a new ‘Take-in’ food service offering students healthy fast- food dishes.
Senior pupils can now order their favourite evening snacks from the school’s award-winning refectory direct to their boarding room.
On the menu is everything from home-made cheeseburgers with bacon, buttermilk chicken, and barbecue ribs. It also caters for Gordonstoun’s international students, with Chicken Korma and an Italian antipasto box available to order.
The menu also includes side dishes such as onion rings and mozzarella sticks, and there is even a special ‘meal deal’ on offer, including a drink and desserts such as dark chocolate brownies and strawberry cheesecake.
The home-made snacks have been a huge hit with the students, with the school’s chefs being inundated with around 150 orders each night.
Gordonstoun, whose former students include HM The King, was one of the first schools in the world to carry out a nutritional study for the benefit of its students in the 1930s when Prince Philip attended – and the focus on nutrition and food innovation continues in Gordonstoun’s kitchens today.
The new ‘Take-in’ service comes after the school recently launched a revamped breakfast menu to cater for its international students featuring a range of new exotic breakfast dishes including Chinese Broths, such as Yunnan-style breakfast noodle soup with pork (Mi Xian) and Rice Congee Soup (Jook).
Catering Manager Jamie Campbell (SEE LINK BELOW TO IMAGE) said:
“Our team of chefs and kitchen staff are always innovating to see how we can introduce healthier food options for the students. We were aware that many of our older students occasionally ordered food from outside of the school in the evenings, so we saw an opportunity to come up with our own range of home-made options.
“Our ‘kitchen to boarding room’ take-in service offers favourites such as cheeseburgers with bacon, buttermilk chicken and side dishes such as onion rings and mozzarella sticks. The dishes are all home-made with most of the ingredients sourced locally.
“The students can even order a meal deal which includes a dessert and drink. Our chefs and kitchen staff have been run off their feet dealing with up to 150 orders a night. We started the new service on a Sunday night, but it has proved so popular that we are now seeing if we can extend it.”
The refectors team of nine chefs and more than 40 Catering Assistants already provide three meals a day to hundreds of students and staff. Now, senior students have the option of ordering their favourite snacks to their rooms on Sunday evenings.
Gordonstoun, which has won several awards for its food innovation, first put the latest scientific dietary knowledge into practice in 2018. The school’s “Active Revision” course each Easter offers a combination of “brain-boosting” foods rich in essential nutrients and antioxidants, with exercise sessions to aid GCSE revision. This proved so successful that many of the dishes were added to the menu all year round.
Gordonstoun, set in 200 acres of countryside by the Moray Firth, has its own refectory committee giving students the opportunity to help design the school’s menus and get into the kitchen to cook and ‘taste test’ new dishes.
Student Juliane Ehrlich, 17, worked with Gordonstoun’s chefs to help produce the new dishes, adding (SEE LINK BELOW TO IMAGE):
“We had great fun in the kitchen re-creating some of our favourite take-away dishes using some amazing ingredients. There are lots of different nationalities at Gordonstoun and the menu has something for everyone.
“It feels just like home being able to order a take-way dish direct to our rooms, and it’s an enjoyable way to catch up with friends at the weekend.”
Simon Cane-Hardy, Head of Senior School, said (SEE LINK BELOW TO IMAGE):
“The new ‘take-in’ service offers something different for the students, with the chance to enjoy a ‘take-in’ in a more informal setting, as many families do on a weekend. We have a talented team of chefs and kitchen staff who are always innovating and exploring new opportunities to give our students a unique taste of home.
“With such a diverse range of cultures and nationalities at Gordonstoun, we know that providing a range of food options is a comfort for many of our students. The new dishes are freshly cooked with healthy ingredients, but I’m reliably told just as tasty as other popular take-away dishes.”
Gordonstoun’s expertise in nutrition stretches back more than 90 years when scientists David Lubbock and his father-in-law, Nobel Prize winner Lord Boyd Orr, carried out a nutritional study at the school.
Mr Lubbock was a prisoner of war at the notorious Stalag Luft III camp – the inspiration for The Great Escape film – when he developed some of the earliest forms of energy bars from the ingredients of Red Cross ration packs.
Lord Boyd Orr, founder of the renowned Rowett Institute in Aberdeen, played a critical role in introducing milk in schools in Scotland to eliminate rickets through the provision of vitamin D and calcium to every child.
Categories: Gordonstoun School News
