Department of Psychology Professor Charlotte Hardman has co-authored a guide for creating healthy and sustainable school menus that children enjoy.
Professor Hardman and the Psychology Department at the University of Liverpool collaborated with the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, to co-create a guide called BeanMeals, which was launched on World Pulses Day on Monday 10 February 2025.
The guide features tips for taking a whole-school approach and covers procurement, as well as simple steps schools can take independently to create healthy and sustainable school meals.
Research in schools was led by the University of Liverpool, which saw staff from different areas - including catering staff and lunchtime supervisors, teaching staff and senior leaders - work with the BeanMeals team to create a whole-school approach to trialling specially created bean-based meals.
Dr John Ingram, BeanMeals Project Lead and Senior Researcher at the Environmental Change Institute said: "One of our project aims was to test the acceptability of the beans as an unfamiliar food.
"Helping a range of staff who interact with pupils during the school day to better understand the benefits of the beans for both health and the environment had a positive impact on how enthuisastic the children were about trying the bean meals."
A BeanMeals engagement officer also led sessions with pupils to encourage them to feel excited about trying unfamiliar foods, and University of Liverpool researchers led a mixed-methods evaluation to understand the impact of the project on children and school staff.
Professor Hardman, lead for the schools-based work and Professor of Psychology of Eating Behaviour at the University of Liverpool, said: "BeanMeals highlights the power of a whole-school approach to healthy sustainable food and the key importance of actively involving pupils and school staff throughout the process.
"The fun and engaging activities increased children's curiosity about food, and they were then more willing to try new and unfamiliar foods."
You can download the BeanMeals guide here.
BeanMeals is a collaboration between the University of Oxford, University of Hertfordshire, University of Liverpool, University of Warwick and University of Hull.
The BeanMeals project is one of 16 projects in UKRI's 47.5 million Transforming UK Food Systems' Strategic Priorities Fund (SPF) programme. The programme aims to fundamentally transform the UK food system by placing healthy people and a healthy natural environment at its centre.