Knowing how to cook, buy fresh vegetables, and why carrots are good, crisps are bad, should be normal life skills. Unfortunately, convenience foods and cookery’s low priority on the school curriculum mean many children grow up with scant knowledge of one of life’s great joys. This scheme, run by the Academy of Culinary Arts, aims to get food, food provenance, cooking and nutrition back on the school agenda.

Café 21, together with the group’s other restaurants, has adopted several schools in the region. Terry Laybourne and his chefs run workshops with the children teaching them basic cooking skills, where food comes from, how to shop and how to use their taste-buds. They’re always fun, surprising and very messy.