CHILDREN received international cooking lessons at schools in Christchurch.

Primary aged pupils across the town were visited in their classes by representatives of the Christchurch Food Festival Education Trust.

This saw students from all seven of the borough’s primary schools trying their hand at cooking healthy recipes from the countries they have been studying.

The mayor, Cllr Frederick Neale, visited The Priory School with his wife Barbara to see one of the lessons for himself on Friday.

“The sessions that people from the Education Trust carry out are great ways for children to find out about healthy recipes,” said Cllr Neale.

“The fact that the pupils actually get the chance to cook the food themselves means that they’re sure to remember some of the techniques used in cookery.

“I’d like to thank Mary Reader and her team for all the work they put in to introduce Christchurch pupils to healthy food that they may not have come across before.”

Children at St Joseph’s School and Somerford School got a chance to cook some healthy local recipes, including fruity pork chops and chunky vegetable soup.

Students from Burton School and Mudeford School learned about food from the lakes and mountains and enjoyed making a Swiss cheese fondue and steamed trout fillets on a bed of ratatouille.

Pupils at St Marks in Highcliffe were studying ancient Greece for their project and lamb souvlakia proved to be a popular dish as was grilled halloumi cheese served on an aubergine and tomato salad.

Three different year groups at Christchurch Junior School learned about food from Egypt, the Caribbean and Greece, and tasted trout tagine with vegetables, jerk salmon or souvlakia and falafel.

The final sessions were held at The Priory School where years three and four cooked Italian food including minestrone soup and pasta tortellini with goats cheese. Year five pupils cooked lakes and mountains recipes while year six tried food from volcanic areas such as Naples and the Canary Islands.