If you have kids or have worked with children, you might recognize exchanges like these.
Time to brush teeth. “But why?!”
Socks don’t go on our hands. “But why?!”
Let’s eat a colorful plate of vegetables. “But why?!”
Kids are curious and want to understand the world around them—the world they’ll inherit from us. And food is central: Well-nourished children, of course, perform better in school, and building food literacy from a young age is transformative for kids’ understanding of empathy, sustainability, and health.
When we give kids nutritious food to eat, we also have to make sure we answer their number one question: Why? Why are these particular foods good for our bodies and the planet? Why is it important to participate in growing food ourselves? Why does what we eat matter?
Luckily, around the globe, inspiring organizations are working tirelessly to connect children with both healthy meals and the nutrition education to truly understand what they’re eating—and why.
“Let’s give kids positive, memorable, community-building experiences with real food as a way to build preferences for that food, build confidence in utilizing and eating that food, and build skills in kitchens and gardens,” says Jenn Mampara, Director of Education for FRESHFARM, whose FoodPrints program integrates these skills directly into local schools’ curricula.
It’s inspiring to see how these organizations are encouraging students to try foods they may not otherwise. The Chennai Urban Farming Initiative’s Chief Resilience Officer Krishna Mohan tells Food Tank that many of the kids he works with typically hate spinach. But when they’re a part of the growing process, “the children seem to love the taste of the spinach they grow,” he says.
But nutrition education can’t replace building meaningful access to affordable, nourishing foods for people of all ages; rather it must work alongside it. As we’ve said before, a true root cause of hunger is poverty: People experiencing food insecurity don’t need to be lectured—they need the financial resources to put their food knowledge into action.
When supplemental food relief and a strong social safety net are able to work in tandem with food programming that’s responsive to community needs and cultural backgrounds, the whole food system is better off.
“Over time, with enough programming for youth and families across a community, demand for access to fresh produce and cooking skills will grow,” Carolyn Federman, the Founder of the Charlie Cart Project, tells Food Tank.
foodtank.com/news/2024/08/fe…