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Nourishing the Next Generation
Part 1: Feeding the Whole Child

Featured Stories and Activities
Web Resources

Photo: Slow Food Santa Cruz

Food looms large in young people’s lives, but ask them to describe foods they eat, and words like “yum” or “gross” might rule. Ask them the history of a food or where ingredients come from, and they just might be stumped. But give students a chance to grow and prepare their own foods; connect with chefs, farmers, and cheese makers; share healthful meals; and learn to explore and savor flavors, and they just might develop a new – and lifelong – appreciation for what sustains us.

To get you started, read on for the scoop on Slow Food, taste education, and a hearty helping of stimulating class activities. Bon appetit!

Featured Stories and Activities

Slow Food for Fast Times - An brief overview of Slow Food and taste education, and their inspiring hands-on applications in schools.

Classroom Activities:

Savoring Flavors: Local Tastes Compete - Challenge students to design and conduct a taste test to compare locally grown produce with that grown far away.

Activities to cultivate the senses:
Come to Your Senses
Feast Your Eyes
A Touching Experience
Growing a Knowing Nose
Flavor Sleuths: Making Sense of Taste

Related articles/projects:

Linking Gardens and Nutrition - Health and nutrition experts agree that young people are not eating enough plant-based foods. Our response? Get 'em growing!

Food and Culture: Exploring the Flavors of Your Community - Explore the "foodways" represented in your classroom and broader community to whet kids' appetites for learning across the curriculum.

Web Resources


Photo by Katina Houvouras

Slow Food in Schools - Here you’ll find descriptions of school projects that help children develop an appreciation for wholesome food and sustainable food practices. You can also download a copy of their Model Wellness Policy Guide for school districts.

The Human Body’s Senses: Taste Theme Page - This page features links to a host of teacher-selected sites and activities to engage, inform, and delight students.

Food Routes - If you want to give your students a chance to experience foods grown lovingly and locally, or to connect with those who produce them, you can go here for resources and searchable maps of farms, markets, farm stands, and other food sources.

A Harvest in Harlem - Learn about an inspiring food and nutrition project and download some healthful classroom recipes.

Kitchen Science
This article has loads of background information and activities to help students uncover some of the science mysteries behind foods we eat and flavors we experience.

Author: Eve Pranis

Go to Part 2: Transforming School Food

 

 


Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Feeding the Whole Child

Part 2: Transforming School Food

Part 3: Got Nutrition? Rooting Out the Truth in Food Ads






Nourishing Choices
A roadmap for improving school food to better nourish students' bodies and minds



Eat a Rainbow Kit
Tantalizing lessons focusing on sensory experiences of fruits and vegetables


Salad Celebration Poster
Activities and planting information for planning a classroom salad party


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Created on March 1, 1999 - Updated on