Students need proper nourishment to learn. Recently, a teacher shared her wish list for the school food program. She asked if sugar could be eliminated from the breakfast menu. Her students start their day bouncing off the walls and lack focus. The principle echoed the...
You already have the money and time to cook delicious, nutritious food from scratch. I’ll explain in a moment. First, stand in your cafeteria one day and watch the garbage can fill up with food students throw out. Notice the amount of food left in...
Roasted cauliflower with vegan gravy? Skeptical, Christine, keeps a napkin close at hand just in case she needs to discretely expel the contents from her mouth. Christine doesn’t like cauliflower, but is participating in a taste test for the new healthy hospital cafeteria program where...
Nine excited hospital staff members at Samuel Mahelona Medical Center in Hawaii feasted on burgers, vegetables, and brownies. A seemingly typical meal. Yet, far from ordinary. This group of people were taste testing new vegan recipes for a sustainable food initiative at the hospital. The burger...
We hear from principals who want their students to like the cafeteria food. Business managers want costs controlled. Company leaders desire higher quality ingredients within their existing budget. Parents expect their kids to eat healthier. Board members ask for local food on the menus. The solutions...
The relationship between asthma and a tomato might not seem obvious at first, but dig deeper and the connection reveals an inextricable link between our health and that of the environment and community. Our industrialized global food system, long reliant on the overuse of finite...
As featured in Thrive Global. I asked Anika, a third-grade student at a public school in the Midwest, why it’s important for kids to eat healthy. After a moment of contemplation, she responded, “Because if kids grow up eating unhealthy food they will feed their kids...
The more kids are bombarded with messages for healthy eating, the more likely the ideas are to stick. One recent study explains that a “flavor window” lasts from four to six months of age. The flavor window offers the optimal time to introduce a variety...
If you don’t have a clear picture of where you are right now, how can you monitor progress or determine where you are going? We often assume we know, but facts and data show our perceptions are not always accurate. We guess how much food kids...
One day in the future all schools will take responsibility for their student's health by serving scratch-cooked food grown in the community. Frozen, canned, and boxed food will be replaced with raw, whole ingredients. Warmers will be replaced with braziers. Culinary training will replace business...