WHEN Nora Sands appeared in Jamie Oliver’s pioneering documentary about school food she became the most famous dinner lady in Britain.
And now, 20 years later, the pair show they still hold a great deal of affection for each other by hugging when they meet to celebrate the launch of the second School Food Awards, backed by The Sun.
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8Jamie, 48, said: “You couldn’t have cast anyone better than Nora for that documentary if you had tried.”
And Nora, 68, recalled: “He must have thought I was such an ungrateful cow. I rowed with him about everything every single day.”
With her plain-speaking Irish brogue, Nora cut the celebrity chef down to size in front of the cameras as he banned Turkey Twizzlers and tried out fancy recipes in his bid to make school meals more nutritious.
His crusade was so divisive that one mum, Julie Critchlow of Doncaster, South Yorks, shoved chips, burgers and fizzy pop through the playground railings to junk-food-loving kids.
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Canny cook Nora deemed the new ideas impractical and too expensive — but during the making of Channel 4’s Jamie’s School Dinners she came to understand what the Essex-born chef was trying to achieve.
‘I treated Jamie like he was my child’
As a result of the 2005 series, the Government introduced mandatory guidelines on food for pupils — and today Jamie is on another mission.
He said: “In many ways we have achieved so much since I made the documentary, but also so little. “I am equally as passionate about kids having good nutrition as I was 20 years ago.
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8“There is a lot of talk at the moment about levelling up. But there is no better way to level up than ensuring poor kids have better food.
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“I want Britain to be productive and successful, and good nutrition is so important for that.”
Jamie established his awards to highlight schools serving up brilliant food and cookery teaching.
Jamie Oliver reveals why Turkey Twizzlers were banned from school dinnersIt is the second year running The Sun has teamed up with Jamie.
Our Catering Team Champions category is looking to find cooks who go above and beyond.
Last year the Best School Chef gong was won by James Sommerville, 42, an ex-army chef who heads the kitchen at Wyre Forest, a special needs school in Kidderminster, Worcs.
James was picked from hundreds of entries because of the incredible care and attention he shows in catering for a huge range of dietary requirements.
Fitness guru Joe Wicks, a judge on the competition, presented the Sun-backed gong — which, James says, gave the whole school a boost.
He recalled: “The kids loved it and just loved meeting Joe. Now they treat me like a celebrity when I walk around school.
“I love my job and it is a pleasure to cook for them. But it shone a light on the whole school.”
Jamie said: “Readers might see chefs like James, who won The Sun category last year, and think, ‘I wish we had that’. But there is no reason they can’t.
“After 19 years the standards set by the Government are pretty good.
“I want to celebrate what great looks like in school kitchens and spread the message that it should be like that for everybody.”
The Good School Food Awards are open to nurseries, pre-school, primary and secondary non-paying schools.
Anyone can nominate a catering team they feel deserves it.
Just explain in fewer than 200 words what makes them brilliant. You can even nominate yourself.
Maybe you know a school kitchen worker as passionate as Nora — who is just as outspoken now as she was when she burst on to our screens.
HOW TO ENTER
DO you know a school catering team which goes above and beyond the call of duty for kids?
Have they helped feed children throughout the cost-of-living crisis, found clever ways to introduce children to new foods or used local produce in their cooking?
You can nominate them – or even your own team.
Winners get the golden spoon trophy, have their signature recipe featured in The Sun and win a bundle of Tefal products worth thousands.
Nominate at jamieoliver.com/schoolfoodawards
Remembering her first encounter with one of Britain’s most well-known chefs, she says: “When he walked into my kitchen I didn’t have any idea who Jamie Oliver even was.
“He was only in his twenties and to me he was like a child. I treated him like he was my child, really. Why he never walked out was beyond me.
“I was very negative at first because it broke my heart to see the kids just chucking the new dinners in the bin to begin with.
“But we persevered and tweaked and worked on the recipes and over time it worked.
“Look at how things have changed. It is amazing, and it needed a force like him to face the battles.
“The food we were serving was rubbish, and I used to tell the council as much.”
Jamie used to ask for things like lemongrass and mozzarella — I had never heard about them
Nora Sands
But Nora shrieks with laughter when she recalls the shopping lists Jamie used to leave her.
She admits: “I had never seen raw ginger. He used to leave lists with things like ‘endive’ and ‘lollo rosso’ which turned out to be types of lettuce. Even the greengrocer didn’t have the foggiest.
“Jamie used to ask for things like lemongrass and mozzarella — I had never heard about them.
“He would pour olive oil on salads and I used to say, ‘What’s wrong with a nice bit of salad cream?’”
When Jamie’s School Dinners was a watercooler TV moment, I experienced Nora’s fearsome side.
As a young feature writer I was desperate for an interview and wrote polite letters and even sent flowers — all of which were rebuffed.
Yet as soon as I introduce myself, sharp as a tack, Nora recognises my name and remembers how I launched a charm offensive aimed at securing an exclusive interview with her.
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8She said: “You wrote me a letter didn’t you, and sent me flowers? But the council had banned me talking to anyone as they were so worried about how their food looked on the programme.
“You’ve waited 20 years for this interview — and now you are here.”
Jamie used Kidbrooke in Greenwich, South East London, to show how other school kitchens could change — and he didn’t forget Nora.
‘I made sure the hungry kids had plenty’
She says: “We have stayed in touch. He used to invite me to lots of things but working in the school kitchen was what paid my mortgage so I couldn’t take up too many offers.”
But she did go to Downing Street with Jamie in 2005 to present a petition signed by 271,677 people calling on Tony Blair’s government to improve school meals — and she also published her own cookbook.
As a dinner lady, you would get to know the hungry ones who really needed that meal and you made sure they had plenty on their plate
Nora Sands
She finished her career three years ago as a teaching assistant in food technology lessons.
The retired cook is more than happy to back Jamie’s awards.
She said: “For some children their school meal is the best meal of the day.
“And I also think there is something really important about children sitting down in a dining room and eating at the table together.
“As a dinner lady, you would get to know the hungry ones who really needed that meal and you made sure they had plenty on their plate.”
Jamie, who has five children with wife Jools — Poppy, 21, Daisy, 20, Petal, 14, Buddy, 13, and River, seven — says he has always involved his own kids in the kitchen.
Son Buddy regularly makes breakfast and has a huge following on YouTube for his cooking videos.
While his eldest children are flying the nest, Jamie admits Jools would have loved more kids.
He said: “I am trying to move on to the next stage but Jools keeps trying to drag me back.
“Seriously, we would have loved a sixth but we are so lucky and I am so happy. Exhausted, but happy.”
Paralympic swimming gold medallist Ellie Simmonds will be on the judging panel for the Good School Food Awards.
She said: “It’s a real privilege to have been asked to be a judge.
“I don’t think anyone can under- estimate the importance of nutrition and nutrition education for everyone, particularly young people — not just for your physical well-being but also to your mental health.
“It’s a genuine passion of mine. It’s just fabulous to celebrate people who are making a real difference to the lives of these pupils.”
I would encourage people to enter the awards and celebrate the nation’s brilliant school chefs
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill
Olympic champion heptathlete Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is also a Good School Food Award judge.
Jess, mum to nine-year-old Reggie and six-year-old Olivia, said good grub was key to fuelling her ambitions when she was young.
She explained: “I learned from an early age how nutrition and exercise went hand in hand.
“I really remember school dinners when I was at school in Sheffield.
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“My favourite was a cornflake tart. I loved it and make it for my own kids now.
“I would encourage people to enter the awards and celebrate the nation’s brilliant school chefs.”
COOKERY SKILLS ARE CLASS ACT
COOKING lessons created by Jamie are being trialled in schools across the country.
The aim is to teach skills that enable children to easily make a whole meal.
Jamie said: “Millions of pounds are spent marketing junk food to our kids.
“These lessons make sure children have all the knowledge and skills to understand what healthy looks like and why nutrition is important.”
Great Academy Ashton in Greater Manchester is one of the schools piloting the lessons.
Head teacher David Waugh decided to spend around £8,000 a year providing every child with the ingredients as many of his pupils are from a deprived area and would struggle to afford it themselves.
Sarah Paddison, food studies teacher at the secondary school, said:
“Most of them have what they make here for lunch. I really rate the recipes Jamie has put together.”
Bobby John-Martin, 12, made one recipe at home. He said: “I did the pancakes with my siblings. It was fun.”
Meanwhile, a class from one of Scotland’s most deprived areas has been learning to cook thanks to Jamie.
Carrie Anne McCauley, a faculty head at Lochend Community High School in Glasgow’s Easterhouse, said most of her 13 and 14-year-olds had never cooked for themselves.
But they feel confident enough to tackle Jamie’s recipes, including lentil and spinach soup and veggie chilli.
Carrie said: “Pupils get to try new foods. Some of them won’t be able to get cooking skills from family members so it’s about teaching them so they can take what they have learned into their own homes.”
David McIntosh, 14, said: “I watch TV cookery shows when I never used to.”
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