YOUNGSTERS had a taste of wartime Britain at a cooking workshop using real recipes from ration books.

Pupils at Seven Fields Primary made a Woolton pasty - a vegetable-filled pastry named after Lord Woolton, the wartime Minister of Food - and a suet syrup sponge cake without using eggs and milk.

They followed recipes that would have been delivered to families along with ration books during the Second World War.

The session was run by the Kitchen Club, a pop-up kitchen and team of chefs who serve up educational and practical cooking classes. They teamed up with school’s teachers to give the pupils real experience of different types of food and where it comes from.

Curriculum leader Rosie Smith, who organised the week-long cooking session at the school, told the Advertiser: “They’ve been quite surprised to learn what life was like back then and how different their diet would have been.

“They’ve been buzzing, they can’t wait to take their food home. Some of them asked if they could use this recipe. They’ve been really keen and really involved.”

The children were given basic instructions but allowed a degree of freedom with the recipes.

“It’s giving them life skills as well, like how to cut vegetables properly, it’s all useful things for them to know,” added the teacher.

“They really liked the freedom and responsibility.

“They had no eggs and no milk so they had to use water, so they’ve had to put some of their learning into context.”

Marci, in Year 4, said: “Cauliflower is my favourite food because it is soft but sometimes crunchy.

“I liked making the pasty because we got to roll it out and we put all the vegetables and gravy inside and mashed it all together.”

Aleigha, also in Year 4, added: “My favourite part was cutting the carrots and swede and potatoes.

“I learnt that when you have carrots you always start in the middle. My favourite food is normally meat balls with noodles and tomato sauce.”

The school will have a VE Day party to celebrate the end of the topic and and a selection of the food cooked using the wartime recipes will be dished up.