SCHOOL food. Two words traditionally accompanied by an involuntary groan. The truism remains that few people who have been through the boarding-school mill, or who have eaten meals at school canteens on a regular basis, have positive memories in general of those meals.
Why is this? Lack of variety and imagination certainly plays its part. No matter how good something is, the pupil who is served an identical dish a couple of times a week for several years is bound to emerge from vowing never to let said dish pass their lips again.
For example, since leaving school, this reporter has never consumed: oxtail soup; fish-fingers; mushy peas; spaghetti hoops; tinned potato salad; yellow apples; fried eggs; apple tart; or jelly and ice-cream. Years after leaving, when I asked for news of the school from a past-pupil who had revisited, the first thing I heard was that macaroni cheese was now served on Fridays, instead of the traditional fish-fingers we had all grown to loathe.
Like everything else these days, the thinking behind catering for teenagers at school is changing. In 1996, Gonzaga College, a Dublin day school for boys, struck upon the innovative idea of franchising out their catering. Edendum Fine Catering, run by Gareth McColgan and Cecilia Quadros, got the job.
McColgan, who studied advanced kitchen management at Cathal Brugha Street after an Arts degree in Trinity, trained with Paul Rankin at Belfast's bestknown restaurant, the Roscoff. Both he and Quadros have also worked at Dish, in Temple Bar.
"We worked together with the school on the design and set-up of a kitchen, when we got the franchise," explains McColgan. "Part of the agreement was that we could use the kitchen to cater for functions or events for clients outside the school, which works out well for us, especially during the holidays when there's no-one here."
There are 480 pupils at Gonzaga, each of whom must come and eat in the canteen area at set times between mid-day and 1.30, whether it's to consume their own lunches from home or what's on offer behind the counter. The day's dishes and prices are chalked up on a board near the cash register. The counter and display area wouldn't be out of place in any popular lunchtime city-centre eatery. Extraordinary as it is to report of a school canteen, the menu is such that it's the sort of place you'd be more than pleased to have access to at lunchtime yourself.
The weekly menus change about three times a year. In addition to the hot food, there is also always a selection of filled baguettes, sausage rolls, home-made muffins, milk, juice, and minerals.
Among the dishes on offer this term are: spaghetti carbonara, spaghetti bolognese, or tagliatelle with tomato and fresh basil, all at £2.50; stir-fried noodles with bacon, ginger and char-siu sauce at £1.80; home-made pizza, with a choice of two cheeses, pepperoni, or ham and cheese at £1.30 each; Brazilian farmhouse pie for £1.10. Snacks include: deep-fried rice balls with scallions, herbs, and cheese at 40p; cajun spiced mini vegetable kebabs at 45p; hot ciabatta stuffed with cream cheese at £1.30; and of course, chips, for 95p.
So what do the lads think of it? The canteen is jammed, there's a fast-moving queue at the counter, and the noise-levels at the long tables are, predictably, as high as the rafters. Today spag bol, ciabattas, cajun kebabs, and riceballs are the main items on offer. Daire Stewart, Conor Gahan, John Walsh, and Killian Toomey are all fifth-year pupils.
"Hot meals are a good idea," Daire says, who has just had the spaghetti.
"Especially on the days you'd be staying late playing rugby, you'd be starving if you hadn't eaten," Conor agrees.
John's favourite is the homemade sausage rolls.
"There could be a bigger variety on the menu," Killian suggests, although he reports he eats three of five of the main hot meals a week.
Dr Mary McCreery, who is a consultant clinical nutritionist, suggests a suitable diet for teenagers is broadly similar to a typical balanced diet for an adult. "Except more of it," she stresses. "An adult will need only 2,000 calories a day, but teenagers need 3,000. And they need calcium too. But the problem with most teenagers is that they don't eat enough proper food: they have too many chips, burgers, crisps, and chocolate."
Sitting at another table in Gonzaga are fourth-year pupils Michael Coonan, Emmet Murphy, and James Bartlett. Emmet is eating the spaghetti and a vegetable kebab; the others are each having ciabatta, a rice ball, a kebab, and Coke. "This is proper food," Emmet says firmly. What do they define as "proper food"? "Something substantial that hasn't been slapped up in five minutes," Michael suggests. "Salads," says James. "Takeaway food isn't healthy." "My mum died when I was in First Year," Michael says, "so this is usually my dinner. But apart from me, lots of boys here have two parents out working all day, so it's handy for them to know we are eating well and coming home full." All three say they cook at home themselves, which helps them appreciate what's on offer at the canteen. "Even if you don't want to eat a hot meal, the snacks like the tuna baguettes are healthy and good," Emmet says.
All three are keen to acknowledge that they feel lucky to have access to such a good school canteen. "We have much better food and much better variety than some of our friends at other schools. It's definitely worth the money."
Garbally College in Ballinasloe is a boys' school, with 79 boarders. Michael, Emmet, and James listen with great interest to what the boarders are eating there for lunch that same day: homemade soup, bacon, cabbage and potatoes, and doughnuts. The previous day, the menu at Garbally was soup, brown stew, mash, carrots, and rice pudding. The following day it was to be soup, burgers, turnip, mash, and jelly and cream. On Fridy, fish-fingers would be appearing. Frankly, Michael, Emmet, and James do not look envious of their Galway brothers.
At Kylemore Abbey in Connemara, the 75 girls boarding there have had a choice of meat or vegetarian lasagne the same day, together with various salads, and chocolate cake for dessert. The next day, they would be eating roast pork, roast potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower mixed, and ice-cream with home-made chocolate sauce. Although some of the nuns do work in the kitchen, the majority of the catering is done by outsid staff, who also cook for Kylemore's restaurant.
"We never have soup to start with," reports Marguerite Foyle, Kylemore's catering manager. "The girls would rather have salads. Diet-consciousness plays a part in their eating habits. They ask for chicken, rather than red meat. And we always have fresh fish on Fridays, because we're near the coast and it's easy to get."
This year, Gonzaga will be paying Edendum a small subsidy per pupil - until now, all their income at the school has come directly from what the boys pay for the food. "It's profitable, but not hugely so," McColgan says. "Being able to use the kitchens to cater for outside functions helps, but we would still have taken on the franchise without that."
He reckons that ever since they built the kitchen and opened for business, they have been "very busy. It took time for parents to get used to the idea too," he points out. He thinks franchising out school catering will become more common with time. "Blackrock College franchises out now, and Campbell's do most of the Holy Ghost colleges already," he reports. "It seems to be a better way of doing it." Gonzaga is a private, fee-paying day school, and as such, is not typical of schools in this country. But good ideas are good ideas. Many other day-schools around the country, particularly those in cities, could probably add a lot to their reputation if they went down the road of providing the facility of a good school lunch.
And in the boarding schools which still remain, even one meal a week to really look forward to, such as Sunday lunch, which is catered for by an outside company, would definitely enliven any boarder's week. As Marguerite Foyle of Kylemore Abbey puts it: "Food plays such an important part in your life when you're a boarder - you're all the time thinking about it."