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Copenhagen’s municipal kitchens make the switch to organic, hand-cooked meals

Shifa Rahaman
May 23rd, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

The proof, in this case, really is in the pudding

Hailed by the capital’s mayor Frank Jensen as a “historic lift to the city’s core welfare”, Copenhagen’s 900 municipal kitchens have made a major shift over to organic food, it has been announced today.

From pre-cooked meals to almost totally organic, hand-cooked ones, Copenhagen’s children, youth, elderly, and vulnerable citizens have a lot on their plates – and all of it very delicious indeed.

Green frontrunner
Since 2007, most of Copenhagen’s over 900 municipal kitchens have spearheaded a campaign to try and use a minimum of 90 percent certified organic produce. And they’ve succeeded.

In total, the kitchens buy 11 tonnes of foodstuffs every year, but the switch to organic produce has not proved costly – in fact, by all accounts, it’s generated better ideas, better ingredients, better meals and less waste.

Tabletop revolution
The city is well on its way to becoming one of the greenest on the planet – apart from being one of the world’s best cities for cyclists, it is all set to become the world’s first capital city to be completely carbon-free by 2025.

And tonight, Jensen will host a function attended by its 1,750 kitchen staff at which he will thank them for their contribution.

“The high level of ambition has specifically led to a higher quality of life for every citizen, who is dependent every day on food delivered by the city,” he said in a press release.

“For me, it is absolutely basic core welfare that we are able to serve healthy and tasty food at the city’s schools, nursing homes, shelters, and daycare centres. Those employees, who completed this tabletop revolution, deserve great recognition for it.”


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”