Plzen, West Bohemia, Feb 1 (CTK) – A cafeteria in the largest school in Plzen has started serving Norwegian cuisine on regular basis. Norwegian Ambassador to the Czech Republic Siri Ellen Sletner tasted a special four-course menu there on Wednesday.
In cooperation with the Czech Association of School Cafeterias, the Plzen cafeteria for some 1000 clients have already prepared Thai, Russian, English and Polish cuisine.
A total of 26 Czech schools participate in the project with the aim to offer healthy and unusual lunches. The Plzen school has become the regional centre of healthy diet, association director Karel Jahoda and school director Sona Pavelkova told CTK.
The cafeteria has participated in the Healthy School and Healthy School Cafeteria for three years using fresh raw products. It buys milk, fruit and vegetable from regional suppliers that modify their prices to school cafeterias and deliver their products daily, its manager Zlata Buresova said.
The Plzen cafeteria daily offers two to three main courses and a special cereal-based healthy menu at least once a week, including buckwheat or couscous.
The cafeteria must prepare a three-course menu with soup, main course and dessert, for up to 26 crowns which children pay for lunch. The state fully subsidies the wages and other costs of the cafeteria.
The Norwegian cuisine offers healthy foodstuffs, such as green peas, fish red beet, sour cream and rice pudding, while fish is the most expensive item.
On the day of Norwegian Cuisine, the teaching at the Plzen school will also focus on Norway.
Apart from Norway, the embassies of other countries have already addressed the Association of School Cafeterias, Jahoda said.
Sletner said the Czech project had been presented in Oslo and might inspire similar projects in Norway.
