Welcome to Ficino Kitchen, where the Cuisine Team caters for students and staff out of council-certified, commercial-grade premises. The food we provide is ‘lacto-vegetarian’ which means most of the food is plant-based, along with some dairy products in the form of milk, cheese and yoghurt.

Everything we make is prepared daily from fresh ingredients, is highly nutritious and healthy. However, this is not something we tell the children for fear of putting them off their food!

Morning teas and lunches always begin with fresh fruit to stimulate digestive enzymes in the children’s stomachs. For morning teas, we tempt them with a variety of delectables which one day might be a selection of crackers and cheese, another day homemade biscuits with hot chocolate, or muffins, or cheese on toast, or cake… and they love it!

For lunches, our goal is for the children to experience a wide range of foods from different global cultures. Some of the main dishes we make include… nachos, pizza, pastas, soups, curries, vegetarian sausage rolls, stir-fried veggies, noodles, sushi, vegetable patties, pastry scrolls, stuffed potatoes, spring rolls, roasted vegetables with chef’s tomato sauce… to name a few. And every lunch is served with sides of homemade bread, spreads, deconstructed garden salad, nuts, tamaried sunflower seeds, dried fruit, milk, filtered water, and cheese. After their main or sandwich or whatever they choose to eat, they may have yoghurt and honey if they wish.

No nuts are involved in the main cooking – all nuts are put on the table for the children to monitor for themselves. Allergies and food intolerances are strictly observed, and, in many cases, separate (but equally delicious!) meals are made for these children.

One question often asked is… “Where do they get their protein?” The short answer is, from their food, and this is something I would really like to get into in a future article.

Lastly, the children’s food is not only nutritious and fresh, but is prepared with love as well, which is the ‘X-factor’ ingredient that really helps people (especially growing and learning ones!) thrive and flourish. Which, in a hypoallergenic nutshell, is our mission.

Ms Toshala Elliot
Chef