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Maria Traka

Maria Traka

Researcher

Jul 21, 2026

20:58
It's like you, everybody has to be on board with this.
21:00
This is so important, because i- it's one thing to, to put on the plate, you know, healthy food for a child, and it's another thing for the child to eat it.
21:10
So there are different elements to that.
21:12
One is basically, will they like it? Uh, is it familiar enough for them? And, and in our r- research, uh, working with schools, we, we're actually, uh, realizing that w- when the school is in a, in an area that is more deprived, unfortunately, those children are leaving a lot more of their vegetables, of their fruits.
21:34
And it's really thinking about, okay, so then how do we need to kind of like be able to implement the school food standards that reach the children that absolutely need it? And it's thinking about, um, the foods that they, they like and they're familiar with, pizza, bolognese.
21:50
How can you make it healthier, and at the same time, keeping, you know, the taste to an acceptable level? And one of the things that they tell us is, "Please don't give us any completely new foods.
22:01
Please use the foods that we love and we're familiar with, and just make them healthier."
22:12
Do you think these new guidelines are actually going to work when they have to emerge into the real world of a primary school that, you know, is short on money, doesn't have a lot of time, pupils that actually have to decide, "Do I want to eat what's in front of me?"

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