From world foods to first-class desserts, breakfast lunch and dinner at Gordonstoun is made by award-winning chefs
Plain fusilli pasta and sprinkle cake may come to mind when one thinks of school lunches.
A very different menu to what’s on offer at Gordonstoun School, the famously “tough” co-educational boarding school in Moray, Scotland, where the likes of Prince Phillip, King Charles and Zara Tindall spent their teenage years.
Gordonstoun, which costs upwards of £15,000 per year for boarders in Years 9-12 and £16,330 per year for Sixth Form students, serves up first-class, “brain-boosting” meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner that really are fit for a King. While the catering has no doubt changed since a then 13-year-old Prince Charles had his first day in 1962, there certainly wouldn’t have been squashed sandwiches and a milk carton on the menu for the monarch.
A sample menu taken from Gordonston’s Junior School, Aberlour, shows that students are served up dishes like steak and Guinness pie, seared turkey escalopes with sweet and sour sauce, and even minute steak with French fried onions and garlic butter. The school, which recently won an award at the Scottish School Food Awards, has worked with its chefs to create a new ‘Phased Learning Menu’ which focuses on “balancing nutrition with a taste of home”.
Everything from Omega-3 rich and vitamin-packed ingredients are considered to help students with memory and focus during exam time, while energy-giving nutrients are packed into meals for sporty students with a rugby match or sailing excursion on the agenda.
A recent job description hiring for a chef at Gordonstoun read: “Our talented catering team provides fine dining for events and visits from distinguished and often high-profile guests, alongside preparing nutritious food for adventure experiences, whether that be a trip to the Cairngorms or sailing a yacht to the Arctic.”
