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On four Thursdays throughout March, pupils from participating schools will enjoy dishes designed by Norwich FC’s first team chef Dan Savage.

The meals will take inspiration from the national cuisines of first team players including Teemu Pukki (Finland), Josh Sargent (United States of America), Dimitris Giannoulis (Greece) and Tim Krul (the Netherlands). 

First team nutritionist Tom Geeson-Brown has compiled the basic nutritional information for each to help with learning, and children will receive recipe cards to take home to help them recreate the meals with their families.

The Active Canaries programme is backed by the Canaries Covid-19 Community Fund, which was created in 2020 by donations from first team players, senior staff and directors to support the community to recovery from the pandemic.

Norse Catering provides nutritional meals to almost 200 schools in Norfolk and Suffolk, with more than 75% of the ingredients coming from local suppliers. A menu development team plans each meal to ensure it is healthy and balanced adhering to the school food standards.

To date over 70 of the schools Norse caterers for have signed up to take part in Active Canaries Health Month. This will see around 8,000 children from these schools enjoy the dinners across the programme’s four-week duration.

Zoe Ward, business and project director at Norwich City FC, said: “We know how important eating healthily, being active and getting enough sleep is for children, and how it can impact on their ability to learn and develop. We’re aiming to use the knowledge and tools we have at the club to help children better understand these important foundations to their well-being.

“Busy lifestyles, and challenges such as the rising cost of living, can make it hard for families to produce healthy meals they can enjoy at home. We are aiming to help children get excited about eating healthily while making it as easy as possible for families to replicate the food eaten by our first team players.”