Food education and participation
Together, we can do better
Voimia aims to involve customers in joint development. We work in partnership with diners and various stakeholders. The aim is for customer participation to lead to higher-quality services that better meet their needs.
In schools
Food education involves collaboration between school teaching staff, parents, pupils and catering services. The aim of food education is to increase appreciation of school meals, which is reflected in positive comments both at school and at home. Food education also takes into account mealtimes as a whole. Sufficient time is set aside for meals, and the experience is genuinely communal. Teachers eat with the pupils, and it is easy to chat with the kitchen staff about the food and give feedback. It is also possible to have a say in the meals: diners are involved in various ways, they are listened to, and their ideas and wishes are taken into account. The plate model is emphasised, encouraging pupils to take food in appropriate and varied amounts. For some foods, such as meatballs and fish fingers, portion limits are applied. The meal also includes potatoes, salad, bread, margarine and milk.
In schools, we deliver food education in collaboration not only with school staff but also with student councils and parents’ associations. Adults’ respectful attitude and positive talk about food set an important example for children and young people.
We also invite decision-makers to experience school meals for themselves. In 2025, we invited members of Tampere City Council to have a meal with us at a local school, and we were delighted that so many accepted the invitation! The variety and range of options in today’s school meals came as a pleasant surprise to the participants.
In daycare centers
We support food education in daycare centers using the Sapere method. At the heart of the Sapere method is mealtime, which is the best gateway to the world of food. Children are encouraged to explore food using all their senses: play, exploration and curiosity are how children learn. The more a child is involved in preparing food, the more enthusiastic they become.
In hospitals and residential care facilities
We regularly visit the various care departments, both in hospitals and residential care homes, and listen to staff feedback and suggestions for improvement. Occasionally, we also have the opportunity to chat with customers, for example during tastings of new dishes. We continuously collect feedback from diners in various ways, such as via tablets circulated in hospital wards and through comprehensive annual customer surveys. Some diners provide feedback directly via an online form.
Together with Pirha’s nutrition therapists, we review the descriptions of the special diets used in treatment and make changes to them as necessary should recommendations or treatment practices change.
Food diplomas
School Meals Diploma
Our schools hold School Meal Diplomas®, which recognise their efforts to promote school meals that are nutritionally, educationally and environmentally sustainable. The aim of the Diploma is to raise the profile of school meals and make them a visible part of the school’s overall activities.
The diploma awarded by the Association of Professional Kitchen Experts is proof that schools are ensuring that the objectives set for school meals in terms of nutrition, health, sustainable development and table manners are being met. The diploma also reflects the good cooperation between catering and teaching staff.
The ‘Taste Alphabet’ Certificate in Daycare centers
The ‘Makuaakkoset’ Diploma® for daycare centers is a recognition of efforts to promote nutritionally, educationally and environmentally sustainable eating. Mealtimes in daycare centers are an important part of food education and promote and support children’s wellbeing as well as their healthy growth and development.
The certificate demonstrates that the childcare centre ensures that the nutritional, health, etiquette and sustainable development objectives set for the meals of children of early childhood education age are met. The certificate also reflects good cooperation.
How can I get my favourite dish on the menu more often?
We prepare food every day for tens of thousands of customers, and keeping everyone happy is a challenging task: favourite foods and flavours are always a matter of personal taste. The menus
at nurseries, schools and educational institutions feature the ‘Favourite Star’ symbol, which indicates that the dish has topped the list of most popular dishes in customer satisfaction surveys or receives a lot of positive customer feedback. By giving feedback, you can help ensure that your own favourite dish becomes a top pick, receives a star symbol and appears more often on the menus!
We also organise votes. In schools, for example, tortillas have been voted for the last week of term and a favourite soup for Children’s Rights Day. In daycare centers, children vote based on photos on our website. The polls are popular and the results are announced in every school canteen and daycare center group. The aim of the votes is also to support food education and spark positive discussion about food.
