Childbase Partnership have rolled out new nursery menus across their settings, having specially curated them with Nutritional Therapist and Early Years Consultant, Louise Mercieca.
Since February, Childbase Partnership have been working alongside the award-winning author and podcaster to enhance the approach to nutrition throughout their day nurseries, as well as creating training courses for colleagues and educational resources to support children in establishing a balanced diet and positive relationship with food from an early age.
The menus, which launch on Monday 18th November, feature new protein-rich ingredients including edamame beans and avocado, as well as snacks like bao buns and canapes to help encourage children to try new fillings, toppings and flavours to go alongside them.
Other exciting changes include the introduction of starters instead of desserts on some days to reduce the expectation of puddings after each meal, more fish-based dishes to give a boost of essential brain-building acids, an increase in plant-proteins and eggs and the introduction of cacao, derived from the cacao bean, which is a rich source of antioxidants.
Childbase Partnership Quality and Training Director, Lorna Wigley explained;
“The education and learning opportunities of our children form a large part of this wider menu launch, with new table talk cards and health buddy characters to help encourage open ended discussions around food and how they benefit key functions, like our muscles and brain. We look forward to the conversations that will take place thanks to these resources.”
“We truly value the role of food in early childhood development and will continue to enhance our nutritional message and menus to ensure that our children get the very best start in life, a large part of that starting with their food journey at Childbase Partnership”, she added.
The new menus will continue to cater for children with dietary or cultural needs and offer suitable nutritional alternatives to suit the lifestyles of all families.
