Jamie Oliver today said that Prince Charles was "a bit of a hippy" for his longstanding support of efforts to promote healthy eating in schools.
The TV chef joined the prince at Carshalton Boys Sports College to see how teaching pupils to grow and cook their food had helped transform exam results.
Oliver, who has been campaigning on school food since 2005, sparked laughter when told the prince in front of an audience of VIPs and pupils: "His Royal Highness has been doing this for a long time. At some stage possibly the royal family would have thought you were getting a little bit of a hippy, and that may be true, sir. What you have done has been an incredible strength."
Charles is patron of Garden Organic and the Soil Association, both of which promote the benefits of healthy eating.
The school has seen results transform in the last decade from four per cent to 100 per cent of pupils getting five good GCSEs.
Pupils tend chickens and are taught how to grow fruit and vegetables in the playground. These are then used in cookery lessons.
Charles told them they should grow leeks and Brussel sprouts, which he admitted a "love" of. He also said every family should have a pig to combat allergies.
Referring to a Royal College of Physicians report a decade ago, Charles said: "The man who was chairing that report said the pig has the most beneficial microorganisms."
Charles said the country owed "an enormous debt of gratitude" to Oliver for making school food healthier.
He said: "What he has done is quite remarkable in helping to draw real attention to these issues and going to so many schools, doing his TV programmes, raising awareness levels. It's extraordinary the amount of energy and determination he has.
"He is somebody I think we owe an enormous debt of gratitude for his remarkable achievement."
Pupils are taught to cook in a Masterchef-style kitchen while professional chef Dave Holdsworth serves 1,100 hot meals a day to 90 per cent of the pupils — up from 20 per cent. Lunch costs £1.90 for a main course, vegetables, dessert and drink, and 200 pupils arrive early for a £1 breakfast.
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Those who study or play sport after school get a free curry at 4.30pm. The school, in one of Europe’s biggest council estates, has seen results improve from four per cent of pupils getting five GCSEs at grades A-C a decade ago to 100 per cent for the past three years.
Headteacher Simon Barber said: “All around us are grammar schools. Everyone who is left, we pick up. Now we are massively oversubscribed.”
James Needham, 14, said: “I have grown red currants, strawberries, courgettes, broccoli, carrots and pumpkins and they taste great because they are so fresh.”
Oliver wants the Carshalton model to be replicated in schools across Britain but has criticised Education Secretary Michael Gove for exempting new academies from nutritional standards.
