Yesterday, the kids at the Ulricedals preschool had sausage with mashed potatoes for lunch. Chicken Sausage. Dishes with pork are not served in preschools in Rosengård.
“This is the line we have agreed in the district,” said Eva Nilsson, director of Ulric Valley Preschool.
Of the 68 kids at Ulricedal all but two have a non-Swedish background. Eight out of ten do not eat pork for ethical or religious reasons, and in accordance with the Malmö food policy, are offered a pork-free alternative.
“Sure, we have children from other cultures here who eat pork. And personally I think that we must uphold the Swedish food culture. It doesn’t feel right to remove pork for those who want to eat it. But in practice, it becomes too complicated to handle it,” says Eva Nilsson.
Two daily main courses plus an option for allergy sufferers. That’s what the chef’s schedule and space in the kitchen of Ulricedal permit. The result is a vegetarian dish and a meat dish every day. No pork - but also no halal meat.
“Many parents are calling for halal meat, but it would mean a right to it and we cannot decide that. Moreover, we would then not be able to live up to the requirements of the municipality’s policy that the food served should be organic and local as much as possible,” says Eva Nilsson.
No preschool in Malmö serves as much organic food as Ulricedal, 77 percent. Ecological sustainability is a priority.
The children who only eat halal meat, approximately one fifth of the group, get to choose the vegetarian option, even when chicken or beef is on the menu.
In other parts of Malmö, too, much less pork is served now than before in schools and nurseries, says Gunilla Andersson, project leader on environmental governance and responsible for Malmö’s urban food policy.
“Very little pork is served in Malmö now, mostly because it will be awkward when they have it.”
The times when pork is on the menu, about once every two weeks, there is always a pork-free option: chicken sausage instead of sausage, turkey schnitzel instead of smoked pork and so on.
“It is much more common that chicken, turkey or beef are served as the main course,” says Gunilla Andersson.