Getting teenagers out of bed on a weekend is never an easy task. Asking them to rise early, bike to nearby allotments, dig vegetables, then cycle all the way into the middle of Bristol to cook their produce is rather ambitious.

Yet that's what James Cleeton is getting a group of Bristol youngsters to do next Saturday and Sunday.

James is the South West and Midlands manager for the Food For Life Partnership at the Bristol-based Soil Association. And it's all part of his initiative to enlighten the school- age "burger-and-chips" generation.

So, over two days, September 6 and 7, pupils and parents from Hartcliffe Engineering Community College and Bristol Brunel Academy are taking a trip on bicycles "from field to fork".

"There will be between 20 and 24 of the pupils from the two schools involved over the two days," says James.

"They are coming into this scenario cold, as it were, but what will happen, say, on the Saturday, is that the ones from Hartcliffe will get on their bikes at about 8.30am.

"We are then cycling to the Hartcliffe Health and Environment Action Group about a mile away from their school.

"This organisation has a massive allotment where it grows fruit and vegetables for sale to the locals.

"We will get the kids to dig vegetables out of the ground.

"Then we will just jump on the bikes again and follow the cycle route from there into the festival."

The group will be led by Sustrans, the UK's leading sustainable transport charity, which will take the pupils on this five-mile journey. The vegetables will be pulled behind them on a bike trailer.

The plan is to arrive at the festival between 10am and 10.30am, and their specific destination will be the Food for Life Partnership's cooking bus.

The "bus", in fact, is a large articulated lorry and trailer specially converted for some mobile food tuition. It opens out into a spectacular purpose-built kitchen/ classroom.

"The youngsters will then cook the ingredients they have brought to bespoke recipes," explains James.

These cooking lessons will be broadcast live via a web cam on to a screen on the outside of the bus for all to see.

While they are on the bus, the group of 11, 12 and 13-year-olds will actually receive a free 90-minute cooking session with qualified teachers, who devise practical lessons for the young people and their parents. Afterwards they will have the opportunity to explore the festival and get involved with the activities on offer.

"For some this will all be a new experience," says James, adding that, as well as being fun for the pupils, they are hoping to get parents involved, too.

The Food For Life Partnership is also encouraging sustainable transport to the festival.

James adds: "There are other cooking sessions on each day (at 1pm and 3.30pm), again they are free, and we will be encouraging other seven to 11-year-olds at the festival to sign up to the sessions – but this time without their parents. These budding chefs will get to take all the mouth-watering food they cook home to share with their families.

"Next to the bus, we will have an information stand where interested young people, parents and any teachers at the festival can come and find out about how to get their school involved. We will also be speaking about the partnership on the main stage at 10.45am on the Sunday."

See food critic Mark Taylor's preview of the festival in Crackerjack, our free supplement with Thursday's Evening Post. You can also visit www.crackerjack.co.uk