Benenden School has the best food of any independent school in the country, it has been announced.
Last night (Tuesday 6 October) Benenden was revealed as the winner in the prestigious Best Food category at the Tatler Schools Awards.
The School emerged triumphant from a shortlist which also comprised Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Bradfield College, Millfield and Terrington Hall.
The awards are run by the Tatler Schools Guide, which described Benenden’s food as “incredible” in its latest review, published last month.
Its review concluded: “Fuelling all this enterprise must be the incredible food: comparable to Ottolenghi’s finest, these girls eat bowls of edamame beans, sushi rice with beetroot and roasted vegetables and skate fillets with tomatoes and caper berries – all finished off with the most delicious brownies.”
This year’s awards were held virtually over Instagram and were attended by leading figures from the independent schools sector.
After accepting the award, Benenden Headmistress Samantha Price said: “As a boarding school, food is vitally important to us and we are delighted to have received this award.
“Benenden has long been renowned for its outstanding food – when you ask the girls what they like most about Benenden, food invariably features towards the top of the list and when other schools visit us for matches, we know the thing they most look forward to are the teas after the match!
“For the quality and range of our food to be nationally recognised is fantastic for everybody here at Benenden – most notably our wonderful team of chefs and our superb catering team, who take enormous pride in crafting and serving the most delicious food.”
A typical Benenden menu includes home-cooked favourites such as classic lasagne, roasted turkey and breaded haddock as well as international cuisine including the likes of katsu chicken, grilled teriyaki salmon and Greek-style lamb with tomato orzo.
The salad bars are always popular but perhaps not as popular among the girls as the desserts, which include Key Lime Pie, Passion Fruit Cheesecake and Carrot Cake Pudding!
Benenden is meat-free on a Monday and a wide range of special diets are catered for, safe in the knowledge that all ingredients are sourced by the team and therefore fully traceable.
Mrs Price added: “With our pupils’ healthy and energetic lifestyles, food at Benenden is the wonderful fuel on which we run!”
As well as feeding the 500 pupils and 400 staff every day, Benenden is proud to provide lunches for Benenden Primary School.
You can view a typical week’s menu at Benenden here: