Croquettes, an ice lolly and cucumber... lunch for pupils exposed online by 9-year-old campaigner Martha
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Martha Payne began adding daily photos of school lunches to own blog site
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Site chalked up 40,000 hits yesterday
It began with a snap of a similarly measly meal – a slice of pizza and a potato croquette, alongside a sprinkling of sweetcorn, a cupcake for dessert and a lot of empty space.
She posted the picture on an internet blog and began to add daily snaps of her lunches, rating and commenting on them.
When she first checked her NeverSeconds website for reaction, it boasted only three hits.
Yesterday her NeverSeconds blog was trending on Twitter – and chalked up an astonishing 40,000 hits. Martha, who is supervised by her father, said: ‘I was gobsmacked. I never expected to get so much interest.’
And the food? ‘It’s usually pretty horrible,’ she said.
‘I’d like them to serve more, and maybe let some people have seconds if they want to... and not serve stuff that’s a wee bit disgusting.’
Her campaign to improve school dinners echoes the one spearheaded by Jamie Oliver
Because Martha’s home is on the west coast of Scotland, however, standards for school meals differ and widespread improvements in the rest of Britain appear not to have been applied.
But Martha’s fearless exposé of daily fare at her (unnamed) school prompted global discussion about shockingly unhealthy food being served.
One nutritionist branded the lunches ‘scary’. Another praised her for ‘speaking out’.
Martha, whose mother Rebecca is a GP, began the blog because she is interested in writing.
With permission from teachers, she photographed her £2 lunches and wrote about them.
Over to Martha, writing on the blog: ‘The pizza in the first pic was alright but I’d have enjoyed more than one croquette. I’m a growing kid and I need to concentrate all afternoon and I cant do it on one croquette. Do any of you think you could?’
She awards it six out of ten on the ‘Food-o-meter’ but it scores only four for health.
And later she wrote: ‘Today’s meal was on the menu as cheeseburger and ice cream/biscuit but as you can see I got an ice lolly. I prefer ice cream. I wish they had stuck to the menu.’
Her father Dave, who manages a smallholding at home, said: ‘It really seems to have touched a nerve. I joked that it would probably go viral. I really didn’t believe it would.’
