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Andre Garrett and Fred Sirieix are usually more at home taking requests from customers at their restaurant on the fifth floor of the Park Lane Hilton than they are answering questions put to them by flippant four year olds.

But for one morning earlier this month the chef and general manager of Galvin at Windows swapped the perils of the kitchen and the restaurant floor for the classroom when they went to the Edmund Waller school in Nunhead to teach the children about food.

"I believe that we need to get to the root of the problem with food in this country," Garrett tells Yes Chef! in the car on the way over to the school. "Of course it's good fun but I also believe in the message - there's no way we're going to improve things unless we get young people to understand about food and nutrition. They're the key and we need to teach them about flavour and taste."

Garrett has an MCA, one of the most respected accolades in the industry and one of the toughest practical examinations there is, yet YC detects a hint of nervousness as he carries his culinary accoutrements into the classroom. And it's understandable - children of this particular age (4-6) can be an unforgiving and somewhat irreverant audience, with little time for things that do not interest them - but from the moment Garrett begins the class it's obvious he has them captivated.

He starts with a general chat about the four different senses of taste: salt, sweet, bitter and sour (no doubt he'll save umami for a bit further on in the curriculum) and gives the tables of children small samples of salt, lemon juice, bitter chocolate and honey to demonstrate his point, which they devour with cries of "I like it!" and "I hate it!"

Then it's onto the jellies. Garrett has brought with him an assortment of differently coloured and flavoured jellies with which to test the children's understanding of taste. As a rule, kids love jelly - so this goes down a storm - chunks of the wibbling, colourful substance are picked up and squished into mouths, faces of pulled, laughter emanates and the chef is a bit stomped for words when asked "why is it wobbly?" by a particularly prudent little girl.

Garrett had ensured that the colours of the jellies didn't necessarily correspond to the flavour, and coffee jelly that had been assumed to be chocolate divides opinion within the class.

Now it's the children's turn to try their hand at making some food, and they are provided with little pastry cases, an array of berries and pots of crème anglais with which to make some tasty little desserts. As he circulates the room, it's clear that the chef has spotted a few potential pastry chefs in the making - and the kids are given the all-clear to tuck into their creations, which are impressive given the age of the group.

Once the devouring is over, the children are instructed to wash their hands, and there's a clear consensus that the lesson has been a success. Will Garrett continue this sideline in educating school children? "Perhaps, we'll have to wait and see."

Galvin at Windows is currently running an AA competition which gives chefs the chance to cook with Chris Galvin. You can enter it here.

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