Why Blue?

Blue food is really off-putting isn't it? This is blue mashed potato believe it or not. Against my advice, two girls making cottage pie were desperate to colour the mash. Learning through experimentation is a risky business in a Food Technology. One wants to allow the pupils to push their ideas as far as possible and to explore the results. BUT, one is also very aware that there is a parent at home who has spent a lot of money on ingredients, to be confronted with this:


when the kiddie gets it home. More than likely it wont look that neat either. They clingfilm like there is no tomorrow and then shove the casserole dish in their back pack. Then out of the classroom to run up to the main gates of the school and catch the bus. On the bus they will be greeted with pushing and shoving and even worse if the bullies find out that there is a glass dish to be broke.
Soup is an absolute nightmare to get home for them. They need the forethought of Army engineers to get it all in school and then back home successfully, and usually the soup itself is either not worth mentioning, or an affront to all that is good and wholesome. Biggest mistakes (even though I warn them against it): using a beef gravy cube turns the soup to the most disturbing brown colour and tinned mushy peas (American folks... you don't want to know) in a mixed vegetable turns it into an amazing luminous green.