Kaleidoscope transforms the pattern of student eating

Students are not usually renowned for the quality of their eating habits, but colleges and universities across the country are turning that perception on its head, as more and more of them are making it easier for students to eat healthily.

Kilmarnock College staff (from left):
Rossanne McCrorie – Cook,
David Wright – Catering Services Leader,
Jane McKie – Director of Organisational
Development, Ann McHarrie – Cook

Kilmarnock College is one of the most recent to have gained the healthyliving award, for its Kaleidoscope Café in the main campus as well as the café within the Centre of Sporting Excellence.

Having already achieved the healthyliving award in previous posts, Catering Services Leader at the College, David Wright, decided that he wanted to gain this recognition for the College.

David said: “Our Principal, Heather Dunk, is very health conscious and wanted to encourage healthier eating throughout the College. When I started here 18 months ago, we took the decision to change dishes such as chips and cheese and curry sauce and offer healthier alternatives.”

The College attracts a diverse range of students from school leavers to adult returners. Although within close walking distance of the town centre, many students choose to stay on campus for lunch, and so are able to take advantage of the variety of healthy food options available.

David added: “We promote our menus around the College on the plasma screens and within the designated eating areas. We focus on giving students the option to make healthier choices when it comes to food by actively promoting the healthy ingredients used in the meals.

"We also run regular promotions such as free bottles of water and free fruit which have proven very successful.

“The staff are really supportive and also promote our healthy eating messages. We now have many more students using the salad bar and asking for a healthy option when choosing their meals.

“Gaining the healthyliving award has been a great boost to my whole team and we now feel that we’ve made a real difference to the College.”

And with a growing recognition that pupils in schools are eating much more healthily than in the past, colleges like Kilmarnock are making a real difference to Scotland’s health by giving their students the chance to carry that learning process right through into adulthood.

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