Get creative to teach kids food facts
Learning about nutrition, developing healthy habits can impact long-term health
Every night, my 4-year-old son sits down at the dinner table, carefully inspects his food, and asks, “What is this? And who made it?”
He isn’t being rude or critical — he sincerely wants to know. Did this meat come from a chicken or pig? How did the rice get on his plate? Who grew the carrots he’s eating? How did his milk make its way from the farm to the store to his glass?
My husband and I are happy to give him a “farm-to-table” education by explaining what we’re eating, where it came from and how it got to our table.
“Promoting a relationship for children with food and food production leads young people to be more engaged with their own health and develop lifelong habits that will serve them into their future,” said Jacque- line Maisonpierre, farm director for New Haven Farms, a non-profit organization based that rehabilitates urban spaces into organic farms.
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 backyard. Some don’t have easy access to grocery stores that sell fresh foods. It can feel like an unattainable goal, but teaching kids about the origins of their food isn’t impossible; it just requires a little bit of creativity. Here are some simple ways to get started.
Get in the kitchen with your kids. When food comes ready-made in a package or is obtained at a drivethrough window, there’s an inevitable detachment.
Buying the individual ingredients to make meals from scratch at home — at least some of the time — is worth the extra effort: The act of cooking invites kids to not only touch, taste and explore their food, but to ask questions about it.
Deborah Grieg, farm director at Common Ground in New Haven, Conn., recommends starting simply. “You can involve your child in the basics, such as 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.”
Start with a seed. Grieg says the simple act of sprouting seeds on a windowsill offers an opportunity for childhood learning: “Even if it doesn’t make it to a large plant, it’s a great way to see something growing.” Kids can examine its growth step-bystep.
Practise “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, an environmental educator. Most of us don’t consider the resources, such as electricity and gas, that are required to transport our food from its point of origin to the supermarket.
Grieg encourages families to create a “food map” to better understand the relationships among 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 patch of backyard green — even a small one — can plant tomatoes, squash, lettuce or herbs. Sarah Bradley is a freelance writer and creative-writing teacher.