A COUNTYWIDE food initiative designed to encourage individuals of all ages to review the food they eat has been launched across Cambridgeshire. The Good Food Project includes a 15 minute television programme filmed on Huntingdon s Oxmoor that was due to

A COUNTYWIDE food initiative designed to encourage individuals of all ages to review the food they eat has been launched across Cambridgeshire.

The Good Food Project includes a 15 minute television programme filmed on Huntingdon's Oxmoor that was due to be aired on Teachers TV this evening (Wednesday) at 7pm.

Early Years in Action - A Healthy Start, shot in July last year, begins with children at St John's Little Learners Nursery harvesting vegetables and preparing them for lunch, followed by a Ready, Steady, Lunch session with parents - showing what has become known as the Hunts for Good Food Project.

The region's newest television stars were seen for the first time at the exclusive premiere at St Johns Little Learners Nursery on Tuesday, January 10, which was attended by 60 invited guests and included an introductory speech from Huntingdon Mayor, Councillor Helen Mallett.

St John's Little Learners have reacted positively to the Good Food Project, following a five metre square vegetable patch being created at the nursery to encourage the children not only to help plant and sow seeds but to learn the health benefits of eating fruit and vegetables.

The children took home the produce they had grown themselves, leading to the introduction of the Ready, Steady, Lunch scheme which aims to teach parents healthy and easy recipes to make at home using the freshly grown fruit and vegetables.

The success of the scheme led to Hunts for Good Food starting the Eat Well, Do Well sessions at Thongsley Fields Primary School which teach schoolchildren in Years Five and Six healthy food recipes which are then made in class.

Hunts for Good Food, started by Cambridgeshire ACRE in April 2004, currently serves the communities of Cambourne, Huntingdon, Ramsey and Ramsey St Mary and promotes the main initiatives of the campaign including allotment use, the development of school food gardens and choosing a balanced diet.

Cambridgeshire ACRE's food initiatives co-ordinator, Jack Waterfall, said: "The Hunts for Good Food project is typical of the type of work that we're doing with schools and it has won backing from a wide range of organisations, including the county council and Huntingdonshire Regional College.

"Locally, Hunts for Good Food is valued by community workers, health workers and teachers as a practical tool they can call on to use in their own health promotion work. One of our aims is to develop more discerning consumers at all ages by improving basic cooking skills in an attempt to destroy the myth that convenience food is always convenient.