• The EELV town hall of Lyon has developed school meals favoring organic, local, short circuits and a higher proportion of "home" cooking.

  • These virtuous menus, available from the start of the school year, are part of a broader educational approach, going “from the field to the plate”.

  • Additional workshops will raise awareness among children in Lyon about the traceability of products and what happens to their waste.

"Raise children's awareness from the field to the plate": this is the watchword of the EELV municipality of Lyon, which unveiled its new offer for school canteens on Tuesday, available from September 2022. Elior, French leader in collective catering, was chosen to distribute 26,500 meals a day, made from 50% organic products and half of local origin.

Children will have the choice between two menus: the “small cap”, 50% vegetarian, which will offer meat or fish two days a week, and the “young shoot”, 100% vegetarian, including eggs and dairy products to ensure adequate protein intake.

More local products, less processed products

50% of the supply will be local, less than 200 km from the central kitchen of Rillieux-la-Pape, for which the city will invest 4 million euros in equipment necessary for cooking certain raw products.

The gratins, purees and compotes will be prepared on site, to diversify the dishes and make them healthier.

"It's good for the planet, and good for children's health," notes Gautier Chapuis, local food delegate.

“We have worked closely with the farmers and will continue to do so with an agricultural commission which will be held twice a year,” he announced.

Henri Chambe, farmer in L'Arbresle, is delighted with this lasting partnership with the municipality.

"Basically, we don't need Elior, nor to export", he specifies, "but we sometimes end up with too many apples, too many carrots, which constitutes a potential market for school canteens.

The market gardener is already a member of Bio A Pro, a cooperative of organic farmers who supply catering professionals.

“I changed suppliers and customers, thanks to the children,” he smiles.

Families will not pay more

Organic is expensive.

But "to guarantee the greatest social justice, there will be no impact on the cost for families", promises Stéphanie Léger, deputy mayor in charge of education, who wishes to "educate the children of Lyon to a diet healthy and responsible.

This offer is indeed part of a broader educational project, aimed at training future consumers.

"It seems essential to us to explain to children why organic is better for health, why local is better for economic life", continues the assistant.

"We want to take them to farms, to fields, to explain to them the issues of food waste, sorting, recovery of bio-waste..."

If the stated objective is to offer 100% organic and seasonal products in canteens in 2026, certain foods that are impossible to produce locally, such as bananas or rice, will remain on the shelves.

It remains to be seen how the students will react to this vegetable supplement… “We also worked with them, they tested different dishes offered by our service providers,” says Stéphanie Léger.

Let the children be reassured: they will always be able to prefer fries to mashed carrots.

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  • Restoration

  • Primary school

  • Organic

  • Lyons

  • Canteen

  • School

  • Society

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