Graham, a chef who honed his talent in the finest restaurants in Belfast and South Africa, is helping ‘transform’ school meals by bringing international flavours and high-street food inspiration to pupils’ plates across Northern Ireland. Changes have helped to drive an overall 22% increase in paid-for school meals uptake.
Working abroad juggling the demands of a busy restaurant career and a young family led him to move into education catering, where he took up the post of catering manager in the kitchen of Strandtown Primary School in 2010.
In 2022, he took up a new challenge as food development manager, combining his hospitality background with large-scale menu innovation, recipe development and service improvement. Today, Education Authority Catering serves up to 160,000 meals every day across more than 1,000 schools.
Since taking up the role, Graham has been closely involved in making school meals more appealing, nutritious and reflective of modern eating habits. A major milestone has been the development of the Education Authority Harmonised Menu for nursery, primary and special schools, alongside accompanying recipe books.
At post-primary level, the introduction of the ‘Flavours of the World’ concept has taken inspiration from global street food and modern high-street dining, giving students bold flavours and contemporary dishes that still meet required nutritional criteria.
Graham said: “Through Flavours of the World menus we’ve introduced foods with an international flavour, such as Greek gyros, and street food like bao buns, and we’ve given a ‘high street’ look and feel to the grab-and-go items.
“It’s about showing that school food can be exciting, modern and nutritious. We’re using global flavours, fresh herbs, packing dishes with vegetables where we can, making better use of fruit and dairy in our desserts, whilst constantly looking for ways to raise the standard and keep meals familiar and approachable.”
He believes young people are often more adventurous than adults give them credit for. Taster days and promotional events have helped shape menus with direct feedback from pupils, ensuring new dishes land well and encouraging students to broaden their tastes in a positive way.