Bill Linnane: Thanks to the school meals programme, my son is trying new foods

Many students are benefitting from the school meals programme. Photo: Getty

Bill Linnane

When I was a kid, good food was whatever was on the plate in front of you. We didn’t overthink it back then — a healthy meal was meat and two veg, and a decadent treat was burger and chips.

I didn’t have pizza until I was eight or nine, and can still remember the turmoil of when the first Chinese takeaway opened in town and we gave it a lash, with mixed results. But, for the most part, food was simple.