Celebrating International School Meals Day Across Europe
On March 12th, 2026, classrooms, canteens, and kitchens across Europe came alive for International School Meals Day - a global moment to recognize the role that school meals play in children’s lives, far beyond what ends up on the plate. For the Implementoring Healthy Meal for all (HealthyWave) project, the day was a chance to put our shared mission into practice:ensuring every child has access to at least one healthy, sustainable, and inclusive meal each school day, in line with the European Child Guarantee.
Our partner cities celebrated in their own unique ways, but they all shared the same spirit. Here’s a look at how some of our mentor-mentee teams marked the day.
A virtual lunch between Baciu, Romania, and Almada, Portugal
In Baciu, Romania, GAL Someș-Nădaș teamed up with Agrupamento de Escolas Anselmo de Andrade in Almada, Portugal, to celebrate International School Meals Day in a creative way that connected both countries.
Students from both schools met online to learn together about healthy eating. The Portuguese students gave their Romanian friends a virtual tour of their school canteen, showed them their weekly menus, and talked about their daily food habits. They finished with a fun Kahoot quiz on healthy nutrition, giving everyone a chance to test their knowledge, have a laugh, and learn something new.
This exchange was especially meaningful because Baciu does not have its own school canteen yet. Seeing how school meals work in another country gave the Romanian students a real example and helped them imagine what healthy food choices could look like at their own school in the future.
Cluj Napoca and Riga: small actions, big lessons
The Cluj-Napoca mentor team and their mentees in Riga showed that building healthier food environments can be fun and practical.
In Cluj-Napoca, schools celebrated “Green Week” by inviting children to bring fruits and vegetables from home, prepare healthy dishes together, and share them with classmates. Parents joined the conversation too, as schools asked families about their children’s food preferences so these could be included in the school lunch menu. Along with cooking and tasting, educational activities helped children think about how fruits and vegetables affect their daily well-being.
In Riga, Latvia, the team at Riga Secondary School No.64 made vegetables the highlight of the day. Students tasted different vegetables, learned about their health benefits, and voted for their favorites. The winning vegetables are then added more often to the school menu, giving children a real say in what they eat at school.
These two initiatives highlight an important part of the Healthy Wave approach. Healthy school meals are about more than just nutrition—they also encourage participation, curiosity, and a sense of ownership.
A lunch journey from Varna to Gothenburg
The celebration continued after March 12. A few weeks later, the mentor and mentee teams from Gothenburg and Varna brought European cooperation straight into school canteens in Sweden.
Several schools and a preschool in Gothenburg held a “Bulgarian Lunch Day,” using menus inspired by recipes from our partners in Varna. Children enjoyed traditional Bulgarian dishes such as bean soup from Varna, cold yogurt soup, Shopska salad, and freshly baked Bulgarian-style bread. The canteens and dining halls were decorated with Bulgarian and EU flags, along with information panels about Bulgaria and the Healthy Wave partnership.
The day was filled with curiosity and engagement as students tried new dishes and asked questions about Bulgaria. It was a clear reminder that school meals offer more than just food—they also bring stories, cultures, and connections.
Why these moments are important
From a virtual canteen tour between Baciu and Almada, to vegetable tastings in Riga, “Green Week” in Cluj-Napoca, and a Bulgarian lunch in Gothenburg, Healthy Wave partners have shown that International School Meals Day can be celebrated in many ways, but always with the same goal.
School meals can shape how children relate to food for life. When meals are nutritious, sustainable, inclusive, and reflect the lives of the children who eat them, they do more than feed the body. They teach about health, other cultures, making choices, and what European cooperation can mean—even in something as simple as lunch.
Implementoring Healthy Meal for all (HealthyWave), an Erasmus+ project, brings together 11 partners from across Europe to make this vision a reality in schools every day. International School Meals Day was a celebration, but for our partnership, every school day is a chance to keep building healthier food environments for the next generation.
