Unfortunately, a lot of families in Britain are exposed to family poverty. They don’t have enough money to buy daily necessities like food and clothing. Because of that, a lot of children have their first meal at school, if possible.

 

The programs or businesses that can make this possible are food charities. But an even better alternative, some might say is: Can Cook. Can Cook makes over 4.000 free hot lunches a week for nurseries. They also make a lot of free meals, around 37.000. 

Can Cook doesn’t like to describe themselves as a food charity, since it sounds too condescending with mostly bad quality meals.

 

Personally, we think Can Cook is an amazing invention. They help the people (especially children) in need, who have no control over their situation.

We don’t think that there is much wrong with the company. They make meals for schools and they are even trying to get their meals in small convenience stores for the small prize of 2 pounds. This way children can get them when there isn’t school, like on the weekends of during holidays. 

 

But there are some people who don’t like the idea of Can Cook, especially parents. They say that the food in the meals is too foreign. Their children don’t know the kind of vegetables Can Cook uses in their lunches. But we think that makes it even better, in that way the children can have a more various diet (which is very much recommended by doctors).

 

We really hope Can Cook becomes even more successful in helping children get to a healthier lifestyle.

Britt & Laura

Robbie Davison, another social enterprise’s boss, despises food banks because the food is from poor quality. Because he thinks food banks have a too poor quality, he started a company himself. He wants to be a chef who makes healthy food, like Jamie Oliver dishes but then to poor people. Also Davison thinks that  the children’s intelligence is too low if it is about healthy food. He likes to give context about the food he serves, so the children know what they’re eating. He thinks it is pretty impressive that he runs a company that is not for charity, but that it is a real enterprise.

Guy Biesmans and Gavin Veugen

 

Free meal at school, food for nothing or good for nothing?

 

Most schools don’t even offer free meals, just like our school, even though it would be preferable to do so. This is especially beneficial for students living in poverty. They often don’t eat anything before school, leading to a loss of focus and bad grades. They don’t get the nutrition they require for their day-to-day activities at home. The solution to this problem would be to offer free meals at school. 

 

This, however, may be detrimental to the parents of the children. Offering free meals at schools would have to be a government initiative, meaning the budget for a different department needs to be cut, the costs of welfare checks need to be cut, or the taxes need to be raised. The latter two would result in lower income for people in poverty, in turn again leading to difficulties providing for children in poor families.

 

So, what can be done? That’s what Can cook’s boss, Robbie Davison, asked himself. Seeing the issues with nutrition in a modern, economically successful country like the UK, he cooks meals made from leftover food provided by farmers and producers. These meals are regular, healthy meals. By offering these to kids instead of the unhealthy foods they normally eat, he hopes to improve the health, focus and grades of poor children.

Menno van Term en Orin Pechler

 

We hear a lot about children who go to school without food. And a lot of people notice this. So they want to stop this en to do something fort he children. For example Davison. He makes every day a lot of free meals for children who come from a very poor family. And when they don’t get free meals they won’t eat.

            Davison is a chef, he makes free meals and all the free meals are from fresh food. At food banks they get food from can so that must change. Davison doesn’t like this, so he makes fresh and healthy food for the children. 

            Some parents don’t like the fresh and healthy food, they want that their children get the same food as they eat at home. At home they eat simple and cheap food like boiled potatoes, fishsticks and rice or they eat junkfood because most of the times is unhealthy food cheap food and healthy food is very expensive. 

            Many children in England grew up with unhealthy food such as hamburgers and pizzas. They can no longer do without and become fatter and thinner, Davison wants to prevent this because the children will be the future for England. so many people agree with davison and like to donate money. 

            So Davison does a really good job and a lot of people appreciate that.

Marilène van den Akker & Fenne Postma

A lot of children do not get any food or nutritious meal if Can Cook didn’t hand out all of these meals. 

         “You can really see the behaviour change if the children had an appropriate meal” says Tony Evans, the head chef of Can Cook. According to him it is the hardest job he ever had but is really worth it when you see what is does to these children. There are a lot of children who are starving and some of them did not have a meal in days.

         Tony Evans stressed that Can Cook is not a charity. He does not like food charity because they do not hand out nutritious food. They hand out a lot of cheap food, most of the food can be kept for a long time, but it is not nutritious. 

Lieve Janssen en Kyra Volkers

 

In Britain three million children spend their school holidays at risk of not getting enough food. The chefs at can cook, an alternative food charity, make around 4,000 free hot lunches each week for nurseries around Liverpool. Can cook provides fresh healthy meals unlike most food charities. Davidson the head chef at can cook doesn’t want to serve poor food to poor people. That’s why he puts a lot of effort in his meals for these kids. Davidson is in negotiation with councils to establish ‘’good food areas’’. The dishes that these areas would provide are also available in regular food banks. They would sell these meals for only 2 ponds so they are available for almost everybody.  

 

We think Davidson is putting a lot of effort in this amazing project. He is looking out for these poor children when nobody else does. He teaches them about healthy meals so they can learn properly how to cook in a very healthy way.     

Lars Spijkers 
Louise Caelen