CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver has sparked a cooking commotion in the playground of a North Yorkshire school.

Youngsters at Sowerby Primary School, near Thirsk, have taken up his Ministry Of Food challenge of learning to cook a recipe and then passing it on to a friend.

Caroline Monks, a parent at the school, started the craze by showing her children, eight-year-old Ethan and five-year-old Anna, how to make fresh tomato soup, before they passed the recipe on to a friend.

In just a few days the campaign took off, with many more parents and their children wanting to get involved.

Caroline said: “I thought that doing the ‘pass it on campaign’ with my friends would be fun, but it wouldn’t change their lives because they all cook proper meals anyway.

“So I thought how brilliant it would be if the children joined in too and learned how to cook for themselves.

“I want my children to grow up with cooking as a part of their lives, just like learning to read and write.

“I showed Ethan and Anna how to make tomato soup and when they showed their friend Benjamin it helped them to remember how to do it because they were concentrating on it more.

“It was lovely to watch them working together and having fun, especially when Ethan decided to protect himself from the onions using a pair of swimming goggles and a balaclava.”

Last week, young chefs at Sowerby Primary School were given a further boost when the Food For Life cooking bus parked in the school playground, with expert food teachers on hand to give parents and children free cooking sessions.

Head teacher Jean Yendall said: “What a great way for the children and parents to share new recipes, learn new cooking skills, make friends and have fun.

“We are very excited about this campaign cascading through the school with interested children and families and continuing to develop our healthy eating culture in school.”