Celtic football club was founded in 1888 by a Catholic priest to help alleviate poverty in one of the poorest parts of Glasgow. Celtic is still located in the poorest part of Glasgow. Glasgow has the unenviable reputation of being the heart attack capital of the world Not surprising when one looks at the rubbish people eat.

Looking to its social remit, Celtic decided to do something about the rubbish it was feeding its young supporters.

For some reason, Brits, not just Scots, feed their kids the worst possible food, they even have special menus for kids. Special menus would be an anomaly in Europe. Young people dine on the same fare as adults, the exception being tourist resorts.

There has recently been a backlash against kids being fed junk food, spearheaded by Jamie Oliver's school dinners campaign. There are though exception, for example, Gerald Howarth MP (Member for Aldershot in the south of England), pictured on the front page of his local paper promoting McDonald's, much to the disgust of his constituents.

Celtic was no exception to Bad Food Britain, its young fans were being fed a diet of chicken nuggets, burgers, chips and coke. The visionary chef and restaurant manager decided something had to be done.

Unlike many top clubs which contract out their catering, Celtic still retain control. Linking up with the Soil Association that through its members supply the raw ingredients, Celtic invited its young fans to dine on good, wholesome, seasonal food. The emphasis was on delicious food, the pleasures of eating good food, not a Protestant ethic, it's good for you.

Typical menu choices are: wholewheat pizza with rocket salad, organic ice cream, organic apples, honey roast chicken fillets with vegetable rice and korma sauce.

The kids get the chance to meet and have a chat with the chef. Publicity material shows what their favourite football star chooses to eat.

The kids love it. They have a choice, eat at the on-site McDonald's or dine on fine food. They vote with their feet and dine on fine food.

Celtic are hoping to take this one stage further, and plan to introduce cookery workshops.

Celtic recognise they have a long way to go. The McDonald's for starters. Kiosks serve pie and chips. Yuk!

But it does not have to be yuk. A pie can be a quality pie, with wholesome pastry and quality ingredients.

Recently I ate in the County Restaurant in Lincoln. I ate a meat pie, with mashed potatoes. Not something I would normally enjoy, but I did. The reason I enjoyed it, was because it had very light tasty pastry with very good meat inside.

Why are Celtic doing this?

Partly it is to meet their social remit. There is also a vested interest. When Celtic look beyond their grounds, or even on their own stands, all they see is a generation of Teletubbies, where are the players of the future to come from?

What Celtic is doing is to be welcomed, especially if it leads to other major clubs to follow their good example.

The example set by Celtic is part of a small but growing trend to try to improve the diet of children and move them away from a diet of junk food.

The passionate campaign led by Jamie Oliver is well known.

A group of dinner ladies linked up with local organic producers to supply seasonal produce and menu choices.

In Lincoln, some of the city's top chefs each spent a day producing school dinners.

In Chicago, Charlie Trotter invites local school children, often from some of the poorest districts in Chicago, to sample exquisite cuisine at the exclusive Charlie Trotters.

Junk food advertising to children is to be banned on TV, or is it? The restrictions have been so watered down as to have degenerated into a farce. Milk and cheese are banned, as are burgers, but not coke, chicken nuggets or oven chips, nor ready meals. Burgers may not be advertised, but the brand names and restaurants where they are served may be. Also included in the ban will be raisins, honey, olive oil, low-fat margarines, Greek yoghurt, and some breakfast cereals! Only a handful of programmes, classed as 'children's programmes', are to be effected by the ban. Although the junk food industry has in public raised a big fuss, in private they accept they can live with these restrictions.

We do not allow the advertising of cigarettes on TV. Junk food should be subjected to the same restrictions.

Eat a baked King Edward or Desiree potato topped with Lincolnshire poacher cheese, and it is a good meal choice. Eat it every day, and it is a bad diet choice. We need variety, as well as good meal choices.

Web

 http://www.soilassociation.org/
 http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/J/jamies_school_dinners/index.html
 http://www.jamieoliver.com/schooldinners/
 http://www.mcspotlight.org/

References

Joanna Blythman, Bad Food Britain, Fourth Estate, 2006
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/

Celtic FC, Food Programme, BBc Radio 4, 25 February 2007
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/foodprogramme_20070225.shtml

Barry Darra, We're cheesed off with junk claims, Lincolnshire Echo, 2 January 2007

Isabel Davies, Cheese adverts to be restricted as tests brand product as junk food, Farmers Weekly, 3 January 2007
 http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2007/01/03/100473/cheese-adverts-to-be-restricted-as-tests-brand-product-as-junk.html

Martin Delgado, Junk food advertising ban outlaws cheese and marmite, Daily Mail, 12 February 2007

Valerie Elliot, TV's new junk food allows chips with everything, The Times, 23 February 2007

Fast Food Nation, March 2006 {DVD}
 http://www.participate.net/fastfoodnation

Gourmet dinners on the menu for pupils, Lincolnshire Echo, 18 November 2006

How to eat well all week, M&S, undated

Michael F Jacobson and Bruce Maxwell, What Are We Feeding Our Kids?, Workman Publishing, 1994

Felicity Lawrence, Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your Plate, Penguin, 2004
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/notonthelabel.htm

Jamie Oliver, Jamie's Dinners, Michael Joseph, 2004

Jamie Oliver, Cook With Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook, Michael Joseph, 2006
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/

Oliver's school meal crusade goes on, BBC New on-line, 4 September 2006
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5313882.stm

Keith Parkins, Sowing Seeds of Dissent, Indymedia UK, 6 September 2004
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/09/297391.html

Keith Parkins, Seeds of Dissent, www.heureka.clara.net, September 2004
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/seeds.htm

Keith Parkins, MP promotes junk food, Indymedia UK, 17 January 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/360187.html

Keith Parkins, MP yet again pictured promoting McDonald's, Indymedia UK, 19 January 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/360389.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, Big problem with our MP's Big Mac, letters, Surrey-Hants Star, 25 January 2007

Keith Parkins, So, does our MP provide us with a junk service?, letters, Aldershot News, 26 January 2007

Keith Parkins, Seedy Sunday Brighton 2007, Indymedia UK, 6 February 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/361644.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, Why do we feed our kids junk food?, Indymedia UK, 12 February 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/362123.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, Do we need industrial agriculture?, Indymedia UK, 19 February 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/362714.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, Tesco – every little hurts, Indymedia UK, 26 February 2007

Keith Parkins, Bad Food Britain, to be published
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/

Sean Poulter, Anger over TV junk food ads ban, Daily Mail, 23 February 2007

Dan Sabbah, Business at Coronation Street despite advert ban, The Times, 23 February 2007

Nora Sands, Nora's Dinners, Collins, 2006

Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, Penguin/Allen Lane, 2001

Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, The Ecologist, April 2004

Gerard Seenan, Dinner ladies who lunch, The Guardian, 24 May 2003
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/focus/story/0,13296,961387,00.html

Super Size Me! {DVD}

John Vidal, McLibel: Burger Culture on Trial, The New Press, 1997