There is, more often than not, a hard way and an easy way. And Jamie Oliver could probably have saved himself a great deal of time and effort if he had only looked at the Scottish method of getting kids to eat more healthily.

While Oliver plugged away improving the menus in Greenwich schools, training dinner ladies, showing them how to produce Moroccan lamb and focaccia, rather than Turkey Twizzlers and pizzas, - much to the disgust of most kids - Glasgow went for a more tried, tested and direct method: bribery.

In a pilot scheme, the city council awarded children who eschewed the burger and chips for the healthy option on the lunchtime menu with rewards ranging from cinema tickets to iPods and Xbox consoles.

It has been so successful that it has now been introduced in all 29 secondary schools in the local authority.

The scheme works in much the same way as supermarket loyalty cards. The school children use a swipe card to pay for their school dinner, which also records what they have bought and rewards points based on how healthy it is.

If the pupil opts for the burger, it is only four points towards the iPod. Should they, however, opt for the "vital mix" - an option which changes every day but includes things like soups, filled pittas, raisins and yoghurts - they get 40 points.

In order to get the 20GB iPod, the pupil must tot up 4,000 points - a hundred healthy meals or a thousand burgers.

More easily attainable rewards are also on offer: a pair of cinema tickets for 850 points, or a £10 Amazon voucher for 1,500 points.

"Nobody is suggesting it's a panacea, but we have had remarkably good results," said Steven Purcell, the council's education convener.