Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi is proud to announce that Justin Galea, their Executive Chef and Director of Food and Beverage, will be leading the Adopt a School programme in Abu Dhabi.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide announced yesterday a new partnership with the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in the UK to bring the Adopt a School programme to Abu Dhabi. The programme aims to tackle childhood obesity by giving children a hands-on approach to food education.

Justin Galea has been a member of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts for four years, and was made aware of the Adopt a School initiative in the UK in 2011. 

With almost 18 percent of children aged between two and 15 having grown clinically obese in the last decade, he realised that an initiative such as this one was extremely important to the healthy future of children in Abu Dhabi, and so introduced it to Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi (where he has been working since 2013), who then involved parent company Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

Justin is the only authorised chef to lead the Adopt a School programme in accordance with the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, and will be the front man for the programme.  He will be training other Starwood hotel chefs across Abu Dhabi on how to deliver the programme to children, with the initiative starting in schools this month.

The Adopt a School programme has been designed as a tool to give children knowledge on healthy eating and practical skills at an early stage, and can be rolled out to all ages, starting at primary school when future eating habits are first formed.

“Sourcing, preparing and eating healthy, good quality food is very important to me,” said Galea.

“As we increasingly see more health problems such as obesity and diabetes, it’s important that we as ‘food experts’ share our knowledge on nutrition and good food preparation with the new generation, and involving parents and teachers in that commitment is key to ensuring our children’s healthy futures.”

Each session is executed by a trained chef who will conduct a 45-60 minute class in a normal classroom set up, where teachers and parents are invited to attend. The trained chef, using a flip chart and a selection of foods representing sweet, salty, sour and bitter foods will introduce the children to the four tastes and five senses.  The session will also focus on the benefits of healthy eating as well as food provenance. The sessions are designed to cause as little disturbance to the classroom as possible in order to allow the class to return to normal activities when the session is over.

Shaun Parsons, General Manager for Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi, said: “We’re extremely proud that Justin, who is an integral member of our F&B team, introduced the Adopt a School initiative to us, and will be leading the programme. 

“After understanding more about the initiative, we realised that it could be much bigger and even more successful if we had the backing of the Starwood group.  We’re looking forward to working together with other Starwood hotels to make a difference to the children of Abu Dhabi.”

Other hotels taking part include Aloft Abu Dhabi, Le Méridien Abu Dhabi, Sheraton Abu Dhabi, The St. Regis Abu Dhabi, The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort and Westin Abu Dhabi. Starwood aims to bring the ‘Adopt a School’ programme to as many schools as possible in the emirate.

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