When the slop had to stop

A spirited debate is under way at the Year One lunch table. This class of five-year-old Hackney epicures are discussing the merits of olives. ‘Olives are too disgusting and greeny,’ says Marley, prodding at the offending olive. ‘Olives are too yucky,’ joins in Eduardo, who is carefully hiding them under his knife. But Asar, a boy who obviously has a more developed palate, declares them ‘yummy’ and devours the lot.

Olives are just one of the unfamiliar ingredients on plates at Gayhurst Community School on the edge of London Fields in north-east London. There are sticky pork ribs, a tabouleh made with mograbiah (giant couscous), parsley and tomatoes, sweetcorn fritters, wholemeal flatbreads, and lemony new potatoes with green olives. For pudding there is saffron rice pudding.

No stewed prunes, boiled cabbage or liver sausage here. Gayhurst chef Nicole Pisani has not only turned the dreary tradition of stodgy school cooking upside-down, but sprinkled it with a generous portion of cardamom seeds and sumac.