The State of the Nation


SIMON RATCLIFFE Message in the Bottle:


The Future of School Food


Performance enhancing liquid shakes and laboratory grown meat could become standard fare in British schools within 10 years, according to futurologist Simon Ratcliffe


t Simon Ratcliffe 22 August 2012 Words: Jane Renton


here is a new orthodoxy surrounding Britain’s schools: good healthy food enhances children’s performance. So ever since Jamie Oliver shone the spotlight of publicity on the deplorable quality of fare on offer in many of the nation’s schools, there have been concerted and widespread efforts to improve both the quality of food on offer as well as the way it is cooked and served. Even bog-standard comprehensives — though by no means all — are found to offer stilton and steak pie on their menus. Most have long eschewed the infamous turkey twizzler, and school kitchen gardens


abound, pupils are increasingly being re-connected to the land on which their


“By 2030 half of the adult population of Britain will be aged 50 and over and this will create further demand for different foods that help to enhance cognitive function”


vegetables and fruits are grown. It takes a brave man, therefore, to question the strenuous efforts that have been made by government, local authorities, schools and other support organisations to collectively raise their game on this front. But that’s exactly what futurologist Simon Ratcliffe did at LACA’s annual conference in Birmingham. Ratcliffe, who has advised many companies such as Coca-Cola, Pret a Manger, J. Sainsbury and GSK, believes that rising obesity levels, especially among children, as well as population growth, are putting further pressure on traditional food supply chains and will force a radical re-think of the way school meals are provided. “Maybe


school meals are dead,” he told his audience. “Can the battle that


Jamie Oliver and others are fighting be won by thinking differently?”


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