Hundreds of children were given hands on experience of how to be healthy as they learned to Love Food ahead of Bishop Auckland Food Festival.
Chef Clover Hudson visited Shildon Civic Hall on Thursday and Spennymoor Settlement on Friday to work with more than 500 youngsters from nine County Durham schools.
And the message for the mini-cooks was simple – eat well, understand how what you eat affects you and don’t waste food.
Cllr Brian Stephens, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local partnerships, said: “The children looked like they really enjoyed themselves.
“It was great to see them learning about healthy cooking, fruit and vegetables, and “good” sugars, and that they had the opportunity to get hands on through food experiments and pizza making.
“These Love Food Road Show events were a fantastic way of inspiring children to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
The Shildon sessions received £3,000 from the neighbourhood budgets of Councillors Rob Yorke and Christine Wilson, with £3,000 for the Spennymoor day coming from Cllrs Neil Foster, Barbara Graham, Ian Geldard and Pat Lawton.
Further support came from Bishop Auckland & Shildon Area Action Partnership (AAP), Spennymoor AAP and Health Express.
The sessions were part of the build up to Bishop Auckland Food Festival, which takes place this weekend, on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 April.
For more information about the festival visit the website, www.bishopaucklandfoodfestival.co.uk