School children design healthy sandwich to celebrate EMCC’s 25th anniversary

School children in Clifton, Nottingham spent the morning in the kitchens of the East Midlands Conference Centre to make their own sandwiches. Assisted by head chef Ian Litchfield and second chef Carl Hutchinson, the children were chosen having entered a competition to design a 'healthy' sandwich to help celebrate the EMCC's 25th anniversary. Six short-listed teams prepared their designs and then presented them to a panel of judges who decided on an overall winner.

The winning team, 'Healthy Juniors' from Whitegate Primary School chose a winning combination of multi wholegrain and seeded bread with Philadelphia, smoked salmon, Cos lettuce and cherry tomatoes. They added a prawn and cucumber dip on the side with a balsamic and lemon dressing.

The judges were impressed by the variety of different ingredients and the way they worked well together. The children's explanation of the link in to the EMCC's 25th anniversary was the way in which the taste would 'explode in your mouth' and the judges certainly agreed.

Ian said 'We were amazed by the standard of all the entries and it was difficult to pick a winner but the combination of ingredients, taste and way in which the 'Healthy Juniors' team worked together in the kitchen was really impressive. Hopefully we have given an insight into what it's like to work in a large kitchen and helped to inspire some budding chefs of the future!'

The teams of children from Whitegate Primary, Dovecote Primary and Milford Primary schools were visited in September and briefed on the competition to design a healthy sandwich. The entry process required a full ingredient listing and costs and an illustration of their creation. Entries were submitted by mid-November.