Food Education Resources

Author: Eve Pranis

There's a lot of information out there to help you as you warm up to food education. We cherry-picked those below in the process of composing this month's feature.

Funding Sources

Farm to Cafeteria Projects Act - This legislation, which includes establishing a grants program, was passed as part of the 2004 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act. It has not yet made it through Congressional appropriations. Learn more about it

Healthy Sprouts Awards
These awards from NGA, sponsored by Gardener’s Supply, support school and youth garden programs that teach about nutrition and the issue of hunger in the United States.

Golden Carrot Award
Cash awards that recognize school foodservice professionals who make a difference through innovative programs and nutrition education. Deadline: September 15th.

NIH: School-based Interventions to Prevent Obesity
Encourages partnerships between academic institutions and school systems to develop and implement school-based intervention strategies to reduce the prevalence of obesity in childhood.

Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (2006)
Supports community-based projects that offer comprehensive responses to local food, farm, and nutrition issues.

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Grants
Their “producer” grants can enable growers to conduct school marketing projects.

More Farm to School Funding Opportunities
You’ll find an updated list of funding sources on this national farm to school program page.

Online Resources

Recipes for Healthy Classroom Cooking and School Lunches
Check out these culturally themed, kid-friendly recipes, which are part of the Food is Elementary curriculum program. Also visit School Lunch Challenge Recipes for inspirational dishes from a contest in which chefs and food service staff work as a creative team.

Cooking with Kids: Hands-on Food and Nutrition Education
Features lots of photos, video clips, and sample lessons from an intriguing project designed to improve school food in Santa Fe, NM.

What’s to Eat? A Close Look at Food Around Our School
A photo-rich site with a detailed description of an inquiry-oriented, project-based unit for a K/1 classroom.

Action for Healthy Kids
A wealth of resources on topics ranging from school nutrition education to alternative fundraisers.

How to Start a Healthy Food Market
A teacher’s guide from the Food Trust on how to launch a project in which students create, own, and operate fresh fruit and vegetable stand for parents and the school community.

Changing the Scene: Improving the School Nutrition Environment
From USDA, a downloadable guide with advice and tools for taking action to raise awareness and make changes in a school’s food, nutrition, and health programs.

Rethinking School Lunch
An excellent guide, and companion resources, offering tools and creative solutions to the challenges of improving school lunch programs, using local food systems as springboards for learning, and linking farms and communities. It draws on firsthand experiences of the School Lunch Initiative in Berkeley, CA.

Stonyfield Farm Healthy Vending Program
This yogurt company has donated “healthy” vending machines to schools committed to healthier foods. You can apply here to receive one as more become available.

How to Develop a Salad Bar for School Lunch Menu Programs
A resource guide based on the experiences of a successful pilot program in Los Angeles. For more details on planning, implementing, budgeting for, and garnering support for such a project, see the companion evaluation: The Crunch Lunch Manual.

Local Farmers’ Markets
Here you can click on a state to find farmers’ and farm markets in your area. You can also do the same at the Food Routes Web site.

National Farm to School Program
Features case studies of programs around the country, resources, and research studies.

Study on Farm-to-School Programs Shifting Kids’ Diets
You can use results of this study to “state the case” to administrators, food service leaders, or potential funders.

Eat Smart – Farm Fresh: A Guide to Buying and Selling Locally Grown Produce in School Meals
This resource for school food service professionals tackles subjects such as procurement, farm-to-school distribution models, finding locally grown food and farmers, menu planning, and strategies for success.

Healthy School Lunches 2004 Report Card
The first section of this report by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine describes the National School Lunch Program, its weaknesses, and promising trends.

Books and Articles

Nutritious Business Reaps Rewards (online article) - Kindergarteners grow, taste, and market healthy produce.

Kid’s Cook Farm Fresh Food: Seasonal Recipes, Activities and Farm Profiles that Teach Ecological Responsibility - California Department of Education, Sacramento, 2002. Features historical tidbits, growing and nutrition information, farm profiles, and recipes. You can order it online, or call 1-800-995-4099.

Food is Elementary – features teaching tools, lessons, and recipes to help educators manage multicultural, cooperative cooking sessions and engage students’ senses in learning about foods and nutrition.

Michigan Team Nutrition Book List - Organized alphabetically and by theme (gardening, soups, other cultures’ foods and customs), the list features annotations for more than 300 books about food, healthy eating, and physical activity (for preschool to grade 3).