Barcaldine Primary School recently went along to Tesco in Oban to take part in their Farm to Food workshop.

The school children were met by Nicola Robertson who was wearing a lovely, bright yellow apron – certainly a beacon to follow because Tesco is huge!

Billy Ferguson, Fish Trainee Counter Manager, allowed us to look, touch and smell the various fish and shellfish that Tesco had on display. A wide range of different fish in all shapes and sizes were on show and then we were allowed to handle them gently. Further along the store we also got the chance to taste and smell a variety of cheeses. The children tasted a strong white cheddar, a red cheddar and an applewood smoked cheese and everyone had their own favourite. The goat’s cheese and sheep’s cheese we didn’t fancy tasting but we got to smell!! Yuck!

Eilidh Turnbull, Better Services Manager then joined us as we went to explore the bakery. We got to mark the hot cross buns with their crosses – don’t think they made the shop floor on that day! Who knew making bread had so many steps – well we now know. We watched Iain MacMillan, Bakery Manager, run through the processes of making dough, splitting it, putting it in trays, proving the loaves, placing them in the huge hot oven and then finally once cooled watching them being shrink-wrapped. Iain also showed us their rather nifty pancake ladle. He made a few different size pancakes on the griddle and then we got to take one home with us – yum yum! Iain had a final surprise for us. After our walk about the bakery he gave us each a special tiger loaf – actually a tiger paw if you must know and you can’t buy these on Tesco’s shelf!

John MacInness, Produce Customer Assistant then took us around the Fresh Produce aisles and our task was to find different coloured fruit and veg. Well, who knew that there was such a variety in Tesco – we ran out of space on our sheet there was so much to write down. After our walk on the shop floor we went through to the back of the store where we got to sample several types of fruits. We got to taste papaya, mango, grapes, strawberries, kiwi, pomegranate seeds, pineapple and cape gooseberries.

A great day was had by all and thank you to Tesco for showing us where our food starts, where it ends up and how it tastes!!