HEALTHY dishes served up by two young cooks will be testing the tastebuds of a junior jury drawn from primary schools around the country on Friday.

Megan Hutchinson and Melissa Carr, 13-year-old pupils at Parkside Comprehensive School, Willington, have reached the national finals of the first Grab 5! Menu Challenge competition, which is aimed at persuading young people to eat more vegetables.

Their two-course meal of low-fat vegetarian mixed kebabs and chocolate digestive peaches has already been voted a winner by regional judges.

Megan and Melissa will cook-off against eight other teams at the Good Housekeeping Institute, in Kensington.

Parkside School is backing The Northern Echo's Chance to Live campaign, which is promoting health and fitness in partnership with Wear Valley District Council, Northumbrian Water and the Durham Dales Primary Care Trust.

Head of food technology Maggie Babington said: "The girls proved that you can create a meal that not only tastes nice but is healthy.

"They had to use five portions of fruit and vegetables and it was very low in fat.

"They tried it out on different people in school and everybody agreed it was surprisingly tasty and had a good texture.

"One of the things that everybody agreed on was that they would not normally have considered trying a vegetarian meal before this."

Melissa, who lives in Crook, said: "I am a gymnast so I watch what I eat, but it is hard to find food which is healthy and tasty as well."

The Grab 5! Menu Challenge is promoted by food and farming alliance Sustain. The winner and two runners up will receive awards and top-of-the-range kitchen equipment for their schools.

Menus are on the Grab5! website at www.grab5.com.