And now the Morpeth community has reincarnated its school canteen as part of a global initiative to fight childhood obesity and diet-related health problems.

Inspired by Food Revolution Day, Morpeth Public School has overhauled its wellbeing philosophy encouraging children to embrace a healthy lifestyle.

“We really want to make sure that our canteen reflects what we talk about in the classroom which is all about leading a healthy life,” school principal Peter Edmonds said.

The change also follows calls for a Statewide review into school canteen menus with some schools refusing to comply with health guidelines.

The NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy requires all government schools to provide a healthy, nutritious canteen menu free of soft drinks, chips, cakes and biscuits.

“We’ve had people come in and survey our menu and suggest ways we can change things and we’ve pretty much changed everything,” Mr Edmonds said.

“In days gone by kids would use the canteen as a treat but that’s no longer the case so we have a responsibility to make sure that the children who use our canteen everyday are eating well.”

This month healthy eating advocate and Food Revolution Day founder Jamie Oliver launched a petition calling for the government to enforce compulsory food education in schools.

“We’re currently facing a global obesity epidemic, with 42 million children under the age of five either overweight or obese across the world,” Oliver writes on the petition.

“The bottom line is the next generation will live shorter lives than their parents if nothing is done to rectify these alarming stats.”

The petition has attracted more than a million signatures including actor Matthew McConaughey and sprinter Usain Bolt.