According to Dan Charles's article on NPRed Of Carrots and Kids: Healthy School Lunches That Don't Get Tossed, he visits a DC elementary school where kids are getting a vote in what is served.
Food team meets to think of 3 ideas that change up that weeks current vegetable or healthy option. In this article it was carrots. They came up with 3 types of carrot dishes to serve to the students, mashed, Asian, cooked carrots with coriander. They set up a tasting during lunch and the students vote for their favorite. In this tasting Asian style won and now students will have additional option when eating carrots at their lunch, rather than the typically whole carrots with ranch dressing. My school will often do tasting with Kindergarten students to introduce them to new food, but the frequency of tastings is dwindling. We do have a lot of waste in our lunch program, especially milks. I think much of it has to do with time, students just don't have a lot of time to eat and thus much gets thrown away. I would love to see this idea incorporated in my school, but it takes added time, which I don't think our program would pay the staff. This definitely would help the students try different foods and be excited about their lunch!
Charles, D. (2014, December 2). Of Carrots And Kids: Healthy School Lunches That Don't Get Tossed. Retrieved December 5, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/12/02/364712994/of-carrots-and-kids-healthy-school-lunches-that-dont-get-tossed?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=education
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI run our school store and the changes have been drastic, especially on those students that have been around for both sides of the equation. The taste testing is done in my district, to select the best of the healthy options. I believe over time, if implemented, this strategy will be more accepted by students and cut down on waste.
Thanks!