Nearly 100 primary school children attended the recent Narberth Food Festival Education Day, which provided a forum for food producers and those interested in food and health to work with local children and share ideas.

This year, in addition to the 'taste not waste' theme of the festival, which underpinned the festival, there was also a strong health education opportunity in response to recent concerns over hygiene, such as the outbreak of e.coli in petting farms.

Such activities are very popular in rural Wales and important to the rural economy. Many local children also live on farms and have close contact with animals.

Children were also challenged to calculate food miles and understand the impact of intensive farming on carbon emissions, in addition to the cookery and tasting sessions that included making sausages and the Welsh vegetarian alternative, the Glamorgan sausage; tasting exotic dishes cooked by students from overseas and decorating baked potatoes. Sessions were held on correct hand washing techniques, run by a community nurse, while all participants also had the chance to learn the basics of resuscitation and first aid.

Local children were also invited to give their opinions about the proposed new museum for Narberth and enjoyed a talk about food history, including singing along to 'Food glorious food'.

Secondary schools were also involved in the food festival by entering a special food festival cookery competition, run by the Pembrokeshire College. The festival team has worked in partnership with Pembrokeshire College on many fronts, including working with catering students (who get the chance to work with the celebrity chefs over the weekend) as well as the international students who cooked dishes from as far afield as Vietnam, China and Turkey.

This year, the college ran a successful secondary schools competition designed to encourage youngsters who are considering a career in catering.

The winning team had the chance to do a cookery demonstration in the talks tent during the main festival, with prizes presented by the college's principal, Glyn Jones.

Ludlow, Narberth's twin town, also had a strong presence in the festival again this year, providing a wonderful opportunity for their Young Chef winner Andrew Thomas, aged 22, to cook with Michelin-starred Abergavenny-based chef Stephen Terry, as well as performing during the festival.

Narberth attracted visitors from Ludlow both to the festival and the post-festival dinner.

A strong educational theme ran through all the activities put on by the festival, perhaps the most senses-stimulating being the installation performance by Plunge Boom who ran a surreal nursery which they planted on the tarmac of the former Narberth school playground, which they turfed for the festival. Youngsters were invited to bottle feed the vegetables. Never was the message 'love your greens' so superbly fostered than by this clever concept that had children nursing and cuddling vegetables while singing lullabies. Inspired.