RESEARCH into healthy eating was examined during a hands-on workshop for more than 100 students.

Pupils at Glenmoor and Winton Academies attended the workshop, called VeggiEAT – Are You A Supertaster, to learn more about eating vegetables and to find out if there is a reason why people like or dislike vegetables.

The workshop was based on research being conducted at Bournemouth University by Dr Heather Hartwell and was given to Year 9 students as a part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)’s Festival of Social Sciences.

Dr Hartwell told the students: “The aim of VeggiEAT is to encourage more vegetable consumption among kids like you.

“We need to eat at least five portions of fruit or vegetable a day.

“The fact is, we don’t. Children of your age only eat, on average, two and a half portions of fruit a day and this needs to change.”

Students were then invited to taste vegetables and score their taste, to find out if they are a ‘supertaster’ and whether they like the vegetables they tasted.

Students’ first taste test was with the sweetness of sweetcorn before they moved on to peas.

Dr Hartwell, along with colleagues from Bournemouth University, then gave children a number of ideas about how to creatively eat five pieces of fruit or vegetable a day, explaining that one portion is about a handful of food.