RAISING FARM-TO-TABLE KIDS
You can teach children importance of food even if you live in the city
Teaching kids where their food comes from is valuable — but actually providing this kind of education in a hands-on way is a challenge for many parents. Not all families have a back yard. Some don’t have easy access to grocery stores that sell fresh foods. And others cannot afford to purchase higher-quality or locally grown foods.
Teaching kids about the origins of their food requires a little bit of creativity and a whole lot of community co-operation.
Here are some simple ways to get started.
Get in the kitchen with your kids.
Buying the individual ingredients to make meals from scratch at home is worth the extra effort: Cooking invites kids to not only touch, taste and explore their food, but to ask questions. Why does it have seeds? Why don’t we eat the skin?
Deborah Grieg, farm director at Common Ground in New Haven, Conn., says, “You can involve your child in the basics, like helping with dinner, or try interesting projects like making butter, pizza, jam or something else they might have only seen in the store or in a restaurant,” she said. “(Cooking with kids) raises conversations and helps expand their palate.”
Start with a seed. Grieg says the simple act of sprouting seeds on a windowsill offers an opportunity: “Even if it doesn’t make it to a large plant, it’s a great way to see something growing.”
Seed sprouting is an easy, foolproof activity: Wrap a dried bean (pinto and lima work well) in a damp paper towel and place it in a see-through glass or plastic cup on a windowsill. Within a few days, the bean will begin sprouting, and kids can examine its growth stepby-step.
Practice “food mapping.” “It’s important for kids to know where their food comes from so they have more of an appreciation for food and farmers,” said Alexa Fiszer, a lead environmental educator. “This (appreciation) often helps evolve kids’ understanding of the food production system and the ways in which it has evolved over the course of history.”
Grieg encourages families to create a “food map” to better understand the relationships between nutrition, farming and freshness.
“After (grocery) shopping, look at where your food is coming from — the locations where it was grown or shipped from — and map those routes out,” she said. “You can then start talking about how travelling long distances can affect the nutrients and quality of the food you eat, who might be growing your food, what their lives might be like and the environmental impact of eating (certain foods).”
Get your hands dirty. Studies have shown that kids are more willing to try a new food if they have helped with its growth or preparation. Families that have access to a back yard can plant tomatoes, squash, lettuce or herbs. A child who “hates” green beans might be tempted to eat some if she feels a sense of pride and accomplishment over helping those green beans get onto her plate.
Communicate with your child’s school. More schools are seeing the value in connecting their students to the food production process, whether it’s through participation in farm to school initiatives or by starting their own school gardens or visiting a local farm.
There is also a wealth of educational material available online for teachers who want to promote this kind of learning in their classrooms. Netflix is home to several documentaries about food production appropriate for older grades (including Food, Inc. and Forks Over Knives).
Tap into your local resources.
Most people associate the idea of “farm to table” foods with rural communities, but even urban ones are joining the trend. Community gardens are everywhere and always need volunteers. Seasonal farmers’ markets are a chance for families to get an up-close look at foods, chat with local farmers, and sample fruits and vegetables.
Urban farms seem rare, but are actually not so hard to find: There are more of them, most are accessible by public transportation and many offer open farm days, where families are invited to explore the grounds and learn about the food grown on-site.
“I think kids are willing to try a wider variety of food when they see where it grows from, and they are excited to pick (food) themselves,” Fiszer said. “A hands-on approach (like this) shows kids the physical work that goes into harvesting and tending to food, and consequently, a better appreciation for food is often formed.”