I was invited to the join the food and nutrition panel at the Nursery World Exchange in Manchester on 11 September 2025.

The panel was a great opportunity to focus on many food related concerns in early years. I have been advocating for ‘food inclusion’ this summer (blog August 2025 - ‘Food Inclusion’ should be a cornerstone of child development | Hempsalls). By that I mean food should be an essential and included part of any early years or childcare offer, not seen as an optional or chargeable extension by anyone (funders and providers alike). Naturally, there are plenty of practical considerations and barriers to work through before we achieve this goal, not least the cost and the resources required.

It’s a frustrating two-step we are dancing navigating the provision of food, to charge or not to charge, to serve or to store, and ensuring the safety of children’s allergies, tolerances and preferences. However, the gains are potentially significant, and with a stealth like growth of food being a core element in the sector (think breakfast clubs, FSM, and HAF), there is potential for us to be bolder and better.

We don’t change the world though guidance alone, despite some people thinking this to be the case. Standards and guidance are a starting point (and they are better than ever), but I really would like to see more ambitious food standards and quality, and that demands more resource. Food and the learning around it all should be a core deliverable, and connected to school readiness (at any age, pre-school or in school) if that helps us to garner the support we need. It also means supporting everyone to reach a minimum level of understanding what good healthy food actually looks like, how to buy it, and how to prepare and serve it. My own experience, and the very many interactions I have witnessed tell me that food is a highly emotive issue that is strongly connected to culture, attachment, safety and security, and love. Let me tell you, when working with psychotherapy clients, food often is a feature of material, relating to experiences in clients’ formative years.

I saw in the early days of the HAF (Holiday Activities and Food programme) how providers diligently and ambitiously worked to provide healthy food, only for it to be roundly rejected by children and young people. They considered it to be unfamiliar, confusing, and sometimes scary. They feared it, refused to engage with it, and wanted an offer mor familiar. The easy option was taken (temporarily) by some providers who were concerned about fuelling the children and young people in their care, and ensure there was no food waste when resources were precious. The long-term approach has broken unhealthy cycles and has included the triple-e’s of exposure, encouragement, and enthusiasm. All achieved through talking, modelling, and normalising through patient, value-laden, and tenacious work.

Robust standards and guidance could do more to help with these processes, enhanced by workforce and leadership training, peer support forums, and by shining the spotlight on what works, and the quantitative difference made. Monitoring such work is crucial through contracting and inspection. It has so much potential, to build positive attachment, healthy relationships, health and wellbeing, educational focus and learning, fine motor skills, social connections and friendships, life and employability skills, and the uncomplicatedness of pure pleasure.