Tourism & Hospitality | Monday 2 February, 2015 2:42 pm |

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) today announced a new partnership with Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in the United Kingdom to bring the ‘Adopt A School’ programme to Abu Dhabi, UAE.

With almost 18% of children aged between 2 and 15 years old having grown clinically obese in the last decade, the programme aims to tackle childhood obesity by giving children a hands-on approach to food education. 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. The programme can be rolled out to all ages, starting at primary school age when future eating habits are first formed.

“We are delighted to have the immensely valuable support of Starwood Resorts; especially as Adopt a School is now in its 25th year.  Having industry professionals volunteer their time by passing on knowledge to school children, is what makes Adopt a School so successful.  We look forward to building a strong partnership with Starwood,” commented Sara Jayne Stanes, Chief Executive of Adopt a School.

Starwood’s hotels in Abu Dhabi will be training selected chefs on how to deliver the programme to children. Chef Justin Galea, Director of Food and Beverage and Executive Chef at Le Royal Meridien Abu Dhabi is authorised to conduct the programme under the accordance of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts.

The programme is executed by a trained Chef who will conduct a 45-60 minute session 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 class room as possible in order to allow the class to return to normal activities when the session is over.

Stewart Selbie, Area General Manager for Starwood Hotels Abu Dhabi said: “This is a great initiative and one that we’re proud to be part of. With childhood obesity on the rise, there is a definite need for programmes like Adopt a School and our main aim is to help make educating children on healthy eating a fun part of their day at school.”

Hotels taking part will include Le Royal Meridien Abu Dhabi, Aloft Abu Dhabi, Le Meridien 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 s School’ programme to as many schools as possible in the emirate.