Chef and food influencer Hanna Himanka planned the week’s school meals for a school in Kainula. How was the food received by schoolchildren?
Kuhmo’s school has an average of 490 diners on school days in all age groups, from preschoolers to high school students. About 50 students skip meals.
Chef and food influencer Hanna Himanka designed vegetable-based school food with a new twist for school children, for example potato tacos and beetroot falleros, as well as the school version of his popular bravado recipe, kuppaneer. However, this was served with potato instead of rice to taste Kainu.
The cooperation with Hanna Himanga was implemented last spring 2025. Nora Qvick
– We wanted to collaborate with Hanna because she is a mother of three children from Kainuu and knows how to talk about school food. It’s not always very flattering. We set out together to investigate where the conflict arises: Why does salmon soup made at home taste good, but the same soup at school doesn’t? Is it just about the recipes, or is there more to it? tells about the birth of the campaign Anu Kemppainencatering manager of Virekko, which supplies school meals to Kuhmo’s school.
School food must be healthy and tasty, but Hanna had a broader perspective.
– Children don’t eat nutrients, they eat stories and moods. We took as the target group the age group from first graders to fourth graders. Hanna created a story around the week, the heroes of which were Maiskutti and Pottunen, says Kemppainen.
The target group of the experiment was taken from the age group from first graders to fourth graders. In the end, the dishes divided opinions both for and against: some liked it, not all. Nora Qvick
Himanka asked the elementary school teachers to always read a short story to the children before meals about what kind of superpowers our heroes get from school food. The characters were also present in the school dining hall.
– This is because eating is also a visual experience and an emotional experience.
– The dining environment is important. Sandwiches in the forest taste different than at the kitchen table, reminds Kemppainen.
Hanna Himanga’s week-long safkat school food trial focused especially on vegetarian dishes. Tero Vuorinen
So how were these received among school canteens? The feedback was reportedly honest.
– Some liked it, some didn’t. The dishes were perceived as special and too plant-based, too different in taste from what we are used to, says Kemppainen.
The week’s plate waste, i.e. the waste that ended up in bio waste from children’s plates, was not much different from usual.
– There was more manufacturing waste because diners basically took less food than usual. So there was a lot of food left over, Kemppainen specifies.
– On the other hand, on Friday, the long-simmered barley surimo porridge with blueberry kisel was finished. The side dish was oven-roasted granola and cinnamon sugar. Then more porridge was made.
When planning the food portions of the campaign, local taste preferences were taken into account, such as the fact that the people of Kainuu love potatoes. Nora Qvick
The theme week started with sun soup, which was named on purpose to overcome prejudices towards pureed vegetable soup.
– Its recipe was tested numerous times and the third graders who served as the test group got to taste it beforehand. Most of the test group liked the soup a lot. But in the school canteen, it wasn’t that big.
Food education is part of the school’s curriculum. It is a teaching event that is included in the teaching according to the curriculum Nora Qvick
– We will never get all children to like the same food, but we can hope that they will also give new tastes a chance. Our kitchen staff knows the local taste habits really well, he says.
For example, it was known in advance that the people of Kainuu love potatoes.
– After all, the number one delicacy in the region is pot porridge. That’s why Hanna took taco-spiced potatoes with her to tortilla day. It came as a surprise that some of the children disliked the potato-tortilla combination, even though the portion as a whole was planned to be delicious. We also received strange feedback from parents about this combination.
As a result of the campaign, a food committee consisting of schoolchildren was established at Kuhmo’s school. Nora Qvick
However, the experiment also spawned an innovative new experience for school children, which is now being continued.
– In a way, one of the feedback we received is that this test school now has a food court! We hoped that this experience would create a culture for the school that values school meals. To our delight, the food court operation has now been decided to start. There were so many people willing to do it that the members had to draw lots, Kemppainen is happy.
Parents were also able to give feedback in this project.
– I think that parents can be a big help in school food education: talk to the child about school food with appreciation and ask if the child ate at school and tasted everything that was offered?
The macaroni box has been one of the most popular school meals for decades. Jouni Toivanen
What kind of food do children from Kuhmo typically taste? According to Kemppainen, familiar and traditional school meals.
– Pupils from Kuh can enjoy basic meals at school, such as minced meat sauce, macaroni box, barley porridge, oven sausage, chicken dumplings, chicken lasagna, fish sticks, meatballs. That is, familiar and safe foods that you are used to eating at home, he lists.
– On the other hand, vegetarian dishes, such as vegetable temptation, sauces containing fruit and fish sauce do not taste good.
In general, school meals are expected to be clear and plain.
– We always wish for more sausage dishes. The students hope for “theme days” that deviate from the list, when pizza, tortillas, hamburgers and pasta could be offered, Kemppainen reveals.
Many students also want opportunities to influence school food more.
– We have heard this wish!
Most schoolchildren do not wish for more vegetarian dishes in school meals. Pete Anikari
Vegetarian dishes, on the other hand, are not desired, and vegetable additions to the basic meal are also not desired.
– Fruits in hot dishes – such as pineapple in chicken sauce – arouse discussion, but fruits are very popular in salads.
– In our opinion, in Kainuu, people still eat meat at home, and this is also reflected in the children’s eating. We want meat dishes on the list, we don’t know how to eat or like to eat vegetable proteins, Kemppainen clarifies.
In addition, Virek has noticed that serving people of all ages with the same menu is quite a marathon of compromises.
It is important that school food is talked about positively at home and that parents encourage and teach children to even taste the day’s school food, even if their favorite is not available. Tuuli Syrjälä
– However, food education is part of the school curriculum, and school food has several other tasks than filling the stomach, although this is the most important.
– It’s a big social question, whose responsibility is it to learn new tastes, school or home? We have to dare to honestly see the reality that more and more schoolchildren skip school meals and wonder if we are doing enough to change that, he sums up.
Vireko, which is part of Attendo, prepares meals for approximately 7,600 diners across Finland, for diners in care and service homes, hospitals, health and service centers, staff canteens, schools and daycare centers in four welfare areas.