Food habits and food wisdom if taught right in childhood could be a huge benefit for students and help them become healthy, responsible and confident individuals who can make informed choices for themselves and their families. Growing up in a world where currently, the number of obesity related deaths are more than the deaths related to starvation, food education need not be limited to understanding food as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, healthy and junk food etc. Rather, a holistic view of how food is grown, what is local and seasonal and how certain foods harm the earth will empower students to view food from the perspective of ecology, economy and the environment.

Guidelines (how will the objectives be met?)

• The school cares about the health of students and staff and it will educate and inform about benefits of eating balanced meals and effects of starving or lack of nutrition and will also take all efforts possible to provide nutritious and tasty food. However, we take no responsibility for students eating or finishing their meal at school; neither will we report about the same. We eventually aim for our students and staff to make informed choices for themselves.
• Food cooked/served in school at any occasion will strictly be vegetarian food without eggs. This applies to food brought to school by one and all- students, staff, parents and visitors. School related events like nature camp, field trips, or any other event happening outside school will not necessarily be bound by this rule. This means during nature camp, field trips or events outside school arranged by a third party, the vendor may serve eggs or non-vegetarian food in addition to vegetarian and Jain options.

Applies to all students

Home Lunch / Applicable to students who opt out of school lunch

Children have a busy day at school: physically demanding and mentally challenging. To help children remain alert, awake and enthusiastic through the day, they need to pack in a healthy, nutritious, fresh meal to be charged for the day.

• General guidelines are ubiquitous and apply to any meal you bring from home. This means you need to pack healthy home cooked vegetarian food without eggs.
• Home cooked, traditional, vegetarian food items are allowed.
  • Breakfast suggestions: uttapam, poha, upma, idli, idada, dhokla, vada, samosa, handvo, muthiya etc
  • Home Lunch suggestions: pulav, dal-rice, roti-sabji, thepla, bhakri, dosa, idli-sambhar, sheera- puri, etc
• Permitted accompaniments:
  • Homemade ketchup, chutneys, pickles, jams
  • Dahi, Chaas
  • Salads
  • Homemade sweets like sukhdi, gulab jamun, khajoor pak, salempak, mohanthal, ladoo etc
  • Dry fruits
  • Seasonal fruits
• Our policy also permits students to bring deep fried, freshly made, traditional items like vada, puri, samosa, pakoda, etc on any of the days.
  • Parents to be judicious in not making this a daily affair.
  • Please note that items like french fries, wedges, cheese nuggets, smileys etc do not come under this category.
  • Also, note that homemade sun-dried items like papdi, wafers etc are not allowed.
• Dry snacks/ sukha nashta is not allowed for breakfast and lunch.
  • This means that items like sukhi bhel, pop corn, mamra, chakri, bhel, makhana etc will not be allowed for breakfast and lunch.
• The only exception to dry snacks during breakfast is khakhra.
  • This is recognizing that khakhra is a staple breakfast item for some communities, this accommodation has been made.
  • Khakhra is not allowed as home lunch
  • Please note that chocolate khakhra, pani puri khakhra, dosa khakhra or such kinds of flavored khakhras do not come under this exception and will not be permitted.
• Bread and bread preparations like dabeli, pav bhaji, sandwiches, garlic bread, pizza etc can be brought only on Wednesdays for breakfast and/or lunch
• Only on the last Wednesday of the month, students are allowed to bring pasta, noodles, cake, brownie, chaats etc.
• Cakes and Brownies with icing are NEVER allowed.
• Candies, biscuits, chocolate bars, toffees, aerated drinks, packed chips are NEVER ALLOWED.
• It is the primary responsibility of parents to ensure that HMB tiffin box/Home lunch is packed according to above guidelines. Parents should ask themselves: “Will this food nourish my child?” when making choices for children tiffin boxes.
• We expect parents to self regulate the frequency of sending deep fried items.
• Students can also use coupons to buy today’s special from school canteen during HMB
  • Today’s special will not be available during lunch break.

• A wholesome, nutritious and tasty meal will be available to students and staff at lunchtimes
• Food served will be vegetarian food. We don’t serve non vegetarian food or eggs at any time in school. Jain food preference is available.
• The school has provision for a dedicated food manager who oversees quality, menu planning, taste and hygiene.
• Meals are a balanced combination of pulses, grains, vegetables and dairy. It gives a feel of home cooked food.
• Menu offers variety, choice, addresses seasonality and incorporates regional and occasional international cuisines creating an inviting menu. Click here to see our school lunch menu.
• Our vegetables are procured on the same day and other grocery items are procured monthly, both from local vendors. Everything is made from scratch on the same day in the school kitchen ensuring freshness and quality.
• We don’t believe in adding synthetic colours, flavours, preservatives or flavour enhancing agents like MSG to our food.
• Lunch menu guidelines

• Respective classrooms are used for both the meals- breakfast and lunch by students and teachers..
  • Students who bring home lunch will be assigned a separate location for dining
  • Students are responsible for keeping their classroom clean post breakfast and lunch.
• Make mealtime a happy time by following routines and procedures:
  • Students need to take care of personal as well as space cleanliness.
  • Students need to wash their hands and line up at their respective counter for lunch.
  • Practice a gratitude prayer before lunch. Take this opportunity to talk about the menu and the culture it belongs to thus developing international mindedness among students.
  • Students should not waste food and hence take enough to finish it. They can go for a second serving if needed.
  • Class-wise procedures need to be set for cleanliness. Students are expected to take turns to wipe the spillages on the table.
  • Class cleanliness post lunch will be criteria for the COTM contest.

• Students can bring dry snacks to have in the bus while returning home/ stayback/after school camps, in general, for after school hours activities happening in or outside school.
• It is the sole responsibility of parents to make a correct but more difficult choice of providing their child with homemade dry snacks.
• The best substitute for homemade dry snacks would be to source it from women who make such snacks at home/ make these snacks at your home/ self help groups that make these snacks. Please see the section “Sourcing Locally” for a contact list that could help you with this.
• If dry snacks meant for the bus are observed to be eaten during regular school time by students, then it will be forfeited.
• Only the following items are allowed in dry snacks for bus:

• Fruits/ Dry fruits
• Mamra/ Chevda
• Laddoo/ chikki
• Mathri/ Farsi Poori/ chorafali
• Chana seeng
• Shakarpara/ Nimki
• Khakhra
• Chakri
• Makhana/ Popcorn
• Anything brought from the school exit pantry (no drinks)

• The school will make arrangements for healthy snacks like mamra chivda, chiki and fruits on the bus.
• The students may bring food from their home according to breakfast policy or buy from the school canteen.
• In the rare case that the student runs out of healthy food options, the responsible staff member on their behalf can buy food from the available options. They are expected to avoid packaged and junk food to the extent possible.

• The school will make arrangements for healthy snacks like mamra chivda, chiki and banana on the bus.
• All the meals during nature camp will be organised by school or nature camp organizers. Vegetarian food with Jain options will be available. *Other preferences like eggs and non veg. might be available based on location and organizer/school’s discretion.
• Students can carry snacks for bus travel, if necessary. These snacks should not substitute meals provided on campsites.
• Homemade Indian dry snacks are recommended. Biscuits, sugar based confectionery like candies, chocolate toffees, chocolate bars and packed branded drinks like colas, aerated drinks, ready juices, energy drinks are not permitted. If found, they will be forfeited.
• To prevent litter in the bus and at nature camp site, all the food should be packed in reusable containers and/or ziplock bags only.
• Any food found in branded packets will be forfeited. Branded packets also include local brands.
• Don’t over pack your child’s bag with food. Overeating might lead to nausea, vomiting and an upset stomach.
• Students will not be permitted to buy any food item during the journey unless the teachers in charge permit the same due to circumstances (Delayed journey etc)
• During longer bus journeys, vendors are allowed to provide packaged food on the bus.

• Some defined events like Class of the month (COTM), G12 Farewell, PYP Exhibition, calls for celebration. Special provision will be made for such events to provide for matching dining experience.
• The concerned team can suggest and negotiate the menu with the food manager. The final call however will be taken by the food manager. This menu will be subject to approval by the principal of that section.

• Last Wednesday food policy will be applicable to food related enterprises by students.
• Students have to share the list of items and samples with the respective department process organizer(PO) three days in advance for approval.
• If the students bring any item on the day of the event which was not included in the list or un-approved or suspicious of violating the policy then they will not be allowed to sell that item and they have to turn it into the PO.
• Only homemade food is allowed.
• Sugar based confectionery are not permitted- like candies, jelly, chocolate toffees, chocolate bars; drinks like colas, aerated drinks, ready juices, energy drinks; biscuits; icecream, frozen yoghurt, whipped cream based frozen desserts.
• For the sale of food items students must use only nature friendly containers and cutlery. Non-biodegradable disposables are not permitted, and if found the business will be fined Rs. 300 and material will be confiscated. Concerned teachers, TLs and POs to ensure this.
• Students must maintain hygiene and cleanliness standards during business fairs. In case of negligence students will be fined Rs. 300 and based on severance can also be asked to stop the sale. Concerned teachers, TLs and POs to ensure this.

• Yes, absolutely! Is the short answer...
• We will follow it principally but not literally. Why?
  • Because it doesn’t make sense for school to serve bread on the same day when students are also allowed to bring. That’s too much bread! You get it, right? So our lunch menu will have paav bhaji on some other day and not Wednesdays.
  • Students are not allowed dry snacks for HMB because it is difficult to check 1. if it is really a home made dry snack 2. How often and in what quantity are students bringing it? However, dry snacks in school as an accompaniment to main nashta or as an accompaniment to lunch is in measured amount and appropriate proportion. And we also check that it is not served frequently. Like ragda pattice with sev and other accompaniments once a month is okay. Or poha with some sev for breakfast is fine. Or Bhel with chutneys and salad 1 or 2 times in a month is reasonable.
  • School lunch will also include occasional international cuisine up to two times in a month to offer variety, familiarise students with other culture/country food and develop international mindedness.

Feedback from parents, students and adults working at school will be taken to know whether our objectives are being met. We welcome parents’ and students’ feedback on food policy at surat@fountainheadschools.org