PUPILS and parents spent a busy afternoon learning all about food at Okehampton Primary School.

The event was held as part of the Dartmoor Saves More project — a collaboration between Devon County Council, Resource Futures and Dartmoor National Park. Schools all around Dartmoor have been taking part in workshops, with pupils exploring a variety of hands-on activities for each aspect of the food cycle; ‘grow it, cook it, eat it, compost it’.

The project aims to help reduce food waste in Dartmoor schools and homes and raise awareness of the rich abundance of foods available locally on the moor and beyond.

The event at Okehampton Primary saw pupils manning stalls such as blindfold taste testing of local foods, perfect portion sizes, the ‘leftovers’ wheel of fortune and planting seeds in compost.

The school seized the opportunity and used the event to support their current healthy lunch menu. Adults and children alike were delighted to be served by pupils from the School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) at the pop-up restaurant where they could sample tasters from the main and pudding menus.

Waste educator Demelza Annison said: ‘We are delighted to work with Okehampton Primary to help support their Gold Food for Life Menu and raise awareness among the school community of food waste issues and the benefits of buying Dartmoor’s local, seasonal produce.’

Event organiser Fran Rickwood said: ‘The pupils really enjoyed the workshops with Resource Futures but the after school event was particularly empowering for them as they were able to share their learning with their families and other visitors.

‘The pop up restaurant was also a big hit and will certainly be something we do again.

’The pupils from SNAG did a fantastic job of serving the food with many visitors commenting on how professional and polite they were.’