Food Literacy Poster: Public Domain Picture
The month of October is Health Literacy Month and Food Literacy can be part of the celebration. What is food literacy you might ask? Food literacy is understanding the importance of food and its effect on your health. You learn about healthier food choices and find a way to sort through the maze of processed and fresh food available at your local supermarkets.
Organizations like the Food Literacy Center in Sacramento, California teaches children about healthy food choices and cooking. Their staff goes to schools in the US and helps to establish a food literacy program customized to the school and region. Food literacy is an important program for schools and families to learn about.
The American Library Association promotes food literacy using the school or public libraries. They encourage reading books about food with recipes, holding cooking demonstrations, and educational programs that teach about healthy food. They have links to programs developed by schools and public libraries that educate and train children, teens, and adults in food literacy. Some libraries utilize mobile kitchens to take their programs on the road in their communities.
Healthy Eating Chart Source: El Perchero 3 Blogspot
Libraries and Food Literacy Programs
Farm to Table Program in British Columbia Source: Farm to School B.C.
Many public libraries and in schools are developing food literacy programs. Libraries promote learning and in these program children and adults learn to cook and make healthier food choices. Food is universal and can bring people from different cultures together. Libraries are often a focal point in the community like the kitchen is a focal point in the home.
Food in the United State has led to major health concerns obesity, diabetes, food deserts, hunger, and other concerns. Libraries can be a place to educate and address this issue. Food literacy can connect adults and children to history, science and math.
Camden New Jersey is an area considered a food desert. This means they do not have access to fresh fruit and vegetables, protein, and other foods. The food supply does not meet the demand of the community. They have a lack of supermarkets and many residents do not have the transportation to get to the store. Camden Library developed a Food Literacy program called Book and Cooks to help with this problem.
The library has a mobile kitchen, they developed a teaching plan, and go out in the community to educate residents about food and nutrition. Residents in Camden learn to make tasty healthy meals on a budget and how to shop. Their program was funded by the New Jersey Department of Labor through a special grant. Participants learn math by measuring ingredients and learning to read and follow recipes.
In Washington State a program called Readers to Eaters started by Lee and Low Publishers brings pop up books for kids to local farm markets about food and cooking. Later the launched a publishing program that focuses on books that promote food literacy. Their books are used in many community nutrition programs.
Animation Source: Giphy
Schools Tackling Food Literacy
Waverly Community Gardening Project: Photo Source: Flicker/ d-Olwen-dee
The Syracuse City School District received a large grant to connect schools with farmers. They received 100,000 through the Farm to School Program. The grant will be divided between sixteen organizations. It will help schools use more local produce from farms in their school menus. The program teaches student about healthy eating and local vendors that grow and produce the food.
Emerson Middle School In New Jersey has a hydroponic garden where students grow all kinds of vegetables without using chemicals and soil. Located in the basement of the school the produce grown is distributed to students and local families. They have grown many different types of vegetables and herbs.
Ailee Halligan a teacher in North Philadelphia at a K-8 school. She teaches gardening. Ailee Halligan participates in Hydro Connect and grows a hydroponic garden with vegetables and herbs. Located in an urban space she had a large outdoor location to grow plants. The students have built garden beds and designed a pollination habitat. Students learn to care for plants check water levels and add nutrition. In the program they learn to make simple recipes from what they grow.
Hydroponic Garden Photo Source Oregon State University Hydroponics
How To Celebrate Food Literacy All Year Round
Kids in the Garden: Photo Source Slow Gardens Blogspot
Go to the local farmers market or farm with your kids. Many are open in the fall and winter months. Let your kids pick a fruit or vegetable they would like to try to eat.
Find a recipe for the item you bought online or in a cookbook. Let your kids help you prepare the recipe.
Go to the library or bookstore to find books for yourself and your children to read on food and nutrition. Many books will teach you the basics of a healthy diet.
Sample some new types of apples they are many different varieties to try. Wash them well, cut, and eat unprocessed. Do this with other types of vegetable or fruits.
Look for these books recommended by teachers and librarians on nutrition. They are N is For Nutrition, Vegetables We Eat, I Will Never Eat a Tomato, Green Eggs and Ham, and Eat Your Greens, Red, Yellows and Purples,
Serve healthy snacks to your kids and their friends. It can be vegetables and dip, yogurt and fruit, rice cakes, nuts, seeds, salads, and fruit sorbet. Bring in healthy snacks for co-workers or club member to eat.
Have your club have a healthy snack meeting and bring in only healthy recipes. At work have everyone make a healthy recipe for a lunch gathering.
Try some indoor gardening with vegetable and herbs or a hydroponic garden this fall and winter.
References:
Gardening Animation: Source Giphy
Green Our Planet 2024 Blog Articles
Food Literacy Center
Focus on Food Literacy Alberta Health Services
ALA's Food Literacy Clearinghouse
Green Schools National Network
Food Literacy Program Teach More Than Cooking and Nutrition, by Kelly R. Taylor, September 28, 2018, SLJ School Library Journal
Photo Source Wix Media
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