From fine dining to school dining: chef brings world flavours to Northern Ireland’s classrooms

A chef who honed his talent in the finest restaurants in Belfast and South Africa is helping transform school meals by bringing international flavours and high-street food inspiration to pupils’ plates across Northern Ireland.

Scott Graham, Food Development Manager within EA Catering’s Service Improvement Team, has played a key role in modernising menus and helping show that school food today is a world away from outdated stereotypes.

After cooking for guests at the acclaimed “Makaranga Garden Lodge” in Durban, South Africa, and completing stints in Cape Town and Johannesburg with Protea Hotel Group, Scott returned home and continued working in the local hospitality industry. 

However, juggling the demands of a busy restaurant career and a young family led him to move into education catering, where he took up the post of Catering Manager in the kitchen of Strandtown Primary School in 2010.

“With three young children I needed to find something that gave me the freedom of being off nights and weekends, so I could concentrate on being a dad which, to me, is the best job in the world,” Scott explained.

Over the years Scott progressed through a range of operational roles, including Catering Manager, Area Supervisor and Area Manager. In 2022, he took up a new challenge as Food Development Manager, combining his hospitality background with large-scale menu innovation, recipe development and service improvement. 

Today, EA Catering serves up to 160,000 meals every day across more than 1,000 schools.

Food with flair

Since taking up the role, Scott has been closely involved in making school meals more appealing, nutritious and reflective of modern eating habits.

A major milestone has been the development of the EA Harmonised Menu for nursery, primary and special schools, alongside accompanying recipe books. This approach aims to provide the same high-quality, tasty food at every school, while ensuring consistency and compliance with nutritional standards.

“Kids usually have a ‘greatest hits’ list of their favourite foods, like pizza, curry and traditional roast,” Scott said. “Our job is to make the healthiest versions of those favourites.”

At post-primary level, the introduction of the “Flavours of the World” concept has taken inspiration from global street food and modern high-street dining, giving students bold flavours and contemporary dishes that still meet required nutritional criteria.

“Through Flavours of the World menus we’ve introduced foods with an international flavour, such as Greek gyros, and street food like bao buns, and we’ve given a ‘high street’ look and feel to the grab-and-go items for post-primary students,” Scott added.

Scott believes young people are often more adventurous than adults give them credit for. Taster days and promotional events have helped shape menus with direct feedback from pupils, ensuring new dishes land well and encouraging students to broaden their tastes in a positive way.

Showcase cookery demo at IFEX

Scott will be showcasing how modern school meals are evolving at the IFEX food and hospitality trade event this Wednesday, 25 February, where he will deliver a “Saturday Kitchen” style cookery demonstration.

He’ll be cooking Spanish chicken from the primary menu, plus bao buns with pulled pork, as well as a beef donburi bowl from the post-primary ‘Flavours of the World’ range.

“It will be a great opportunity to show how school meals are changing, and how the food we produce is helping fuel the futures of our children and young people.”

22% overall increase in paid meals uptake

Through the introduction of the new menus, rebranding and marketing through theme days and promotions, paid-for meals in schools have increased by 22% within the last three years (2022–25).

Scott said the improvements are driven by a simple philosophy: prioritising quality ingredients, building flavour in smarter ways, and presenting meals in a way that feels relevant to how children and young people eat today.

“It’s about showing that school food can be exciting, modern and nutritious. We’re using global flavours, fresh herbs, packing dishes with vegetables where we can, making better use of fruit and dairy in our desserts, whilst constantly looking for ways to raise the standard and keep meals familiar and approachable.”