The menu includes carbonara lasagnette, bouillabaisse fish soup, Greek-style chicken sticks, and spinach balls with a mint-flavoured yoghurt sauce. The theme week is topped off by a chocolate and orange dessert, inspired by French chocolate mousse. The salad buffet will also include items typical of Mediterranean cuisine, such as fresh vegetables, fruits, and olives.
‘When planning the theme weeks, we wanted to select dishes which children and young people like, while ensuring that our professional kitchens can prepare them within their budget. This also allowed us to challenge ourselves to transform the recipes of classic dishes to suit institutional kitchens. Luckily, the Mediterranean region is extensive, and offers many ideas to choose from. Many people already know something about the tastes of the Mediterranean through vacations, for example,’ says planner Petteri Hautamaa from Palvelukeskus Helsinki.
The annual country theme is one of the highlights of the Palvelukeskus Helsinki meal service. Dishes in each country theme are planned, tested, instructed, and eventually prepared for over 60,000 students and daycare children in approximately 500 locations.
‘The planning and implementation of the country themes takes a lot of work, but also provides a nice change of pace for the kitchen staff as well as the eaters. It is important for us to be able to offer all pupils and daycare children tastes from other cuisines. The food theme encourages many schools and daycare centres to find out more about the countries through other activities as well,’ Hautamaa says happily.