“Would cheese balls suit you with a little herb sauce?

Sylvain Chevalier didn't have to wait too long for an answer.

She arrived in chorus.

This small starter, a breaded croquette of pasta shells with a melting heart, the 50 little tasters he had gathered for lunch this week in the canteen of a school in Mandelieu-la-Napoule (Alpes-Maritimes), preferred it " nature ".

"Children are cash and that's what we're looking for", explained during a "guest test" the head of culinary innovation for the Elior group.

This specialist in collective catering, which serves 1,800 meals a day in this town bordering Cannes and more than 850,000 daily throughout France, regularly organizes tastings of the new products it would like to offer.

Against food waste

And everything must be done with the approval of these schoolchildren.

“Once they validate the recipes, they go to our bases with a technical sheet, a weight and a cost price so that they can be cooked and served throughout the country, in our canteens but also in nursing homes and also in the context of home deliveries”, adds Olivier Flamand, the director of the central kitchen of Mandelieu.

This approach also allows Elior to limit waste.

On average, even today, 130 g of food go in the trash after each meal of a pupil in kindergarten or primary school.

"With this validation, we gain confidence that the recipes will appeal and, therefore, that they will be consumed," he says.

“The smell was very strong”

For this last test, the little Riviera children in primary school that Elior had invited had to judge two starters, two main courses and two desserts, mainly vegetarian.

And, indeed, they served “cash”.

If the carrot cake and the famous cheese ball went well, the Provençal fish was a little less well appreciated.

The sliced ​​​​vegetables with gingerbread sauce will be completely to be reviewed.

“I didn't really like it because the smell was very strong,” said Souhaila, 10, on the spot.

The little girl in CM2 class pouts: in fact, "I don't really know what it is", she breathes.

“We added spices at the last moment, maybe we shouldn't have.

But we are precisely there to correct the situation, points out Sylvain Chevalier.

At each of these guest tests, the children are given a short questionnaire to fill in on the appearance of the dish, its smell and its taste.

And then we make adjustments accordingly.

“It will also be necessary for the two desserts, a chocolate cream and a semolina cake, for which the reactions have been” mixed “.

In any case, before being à la carte, the recipes subject to caution will be the subject of a new tasting, in another school elsewhere in France in 2023, announces the Elior group.

That of Mandelieu was his last organized this year.

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  • Company

  • Nice

  • Paca

  • Canteen

  • Food waste

  • Restoration

  • Child

  • School