Dear VEG,
I found your blog last month just as afternoon tea time hit. Someone on Twitter mentioned that a 9 year old girl was starting a blog about her school dinners. Having survived boarding school lunches and dinners, I decided to have a look. I laughed and fell in love with your blog and looked forward to reading your updates and your adventures.
This afternoon as I loaded up your blog hoping to see photos of what you and Nick Nairn had cooked up, I was reading a goodbye message instead. I didn’t understand what was going on or what newspaper had caused problems. I am sad that you feel that you can no longer update your blog. It does make things hard. I hope the rest of your day at school wasn’t ruined by such bad news.
Before you do disappear I would like you to know why I love NeverSeconds so much.
- You brought back so many memories from boarding school that I had forgotten and the food that I was served and had to choose from.
- I learned things from you and the people who shared their lunches with you. I grew up in Australia and I never knew those food trays that you get your school dinner on existed outside of American TV shows. There’s so many schools all over the world with them. I never knew that Coronation Chicken was a dish invented to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II becoming Queen.
- You did something that adults find difficult to do. You got kids talking about healthy food choices without mentioning eating disorders or exercise. It was just about eating healthy. That’s amazing and something that should be applauded.
- You have spoken to so many other children and adults about different cultures from many parts of the world and even had a few recipe swaps. Your blog became so much more than posts about your school dinners.
- And when you realised you were getting a lot of attention, (though now you’re getting so much more), you let us know of Mary’s Meals, a charity that raises money to feed children in the poorest nations at their place of learning. Then you went one step further and started to raise money for a kitchen for Mary’s Meals so that they could feed a new school. I know you were rather sad about your blog ending and not being able to finish raising funds for a kitchen. I’ve just checked the total, there is now enough funds for two kitchens.
VEG, I do hope that you don’t walk away from this project feeling so awful you that you don’t try similar projects in the future. I found your blog informative and fun to read. Your updates were something that I looked forward to. I didn’t mind if they weren’t posted by a particular time. Just knowing that there would be an update just kept me visiting to read. I think you are an amazing young person and if you choose to continue with NeverSeconds or start something new, I hope to find you again. I think you will do some incredibly fantastical things.
With Sincere Thanks for the Past Month,
Magdeline Lum
PS. Good luck with the clarinet. I started learning to play when I was 13. Sometimes I put my clarinet together and just play after a long day working.
[UPDATE]: NeverSeconds blogger Martha Payne school dinner photo ban overturned
Related articles
- Editor’s Choice: Government-backed school dinners menu proving to be real recipe for success (dailyrecord.co.uk)
- Let them eat cake, but no cameras: British council gags 9 year old school lunch blogger (thenextweb.com)
- Taiwan school lunches praised by young Scottish blogger (wantchinatimes.com)
- Grated and sliced everything: salad-based food memories (edinburghfoody.com)
- Meet the 9-Year-Old Food Blogger Who Took on School Lunch (healthland.time.com)
