“I had a carrot for breakfast.” No, not me, this was a young child, a participant in the Early Sprouts program. Young children’s connection between growing food and appreciating it at the table is explored in the article “’Early Sprouts’: Establishing Healthy Food Choices for Young Children” by Karrie A. Kalich, Dottie Bauer, and Deirdre McPartlin in the July 2009 issue of NAEYC’s Young Children. This article serves as an introduction for early childhood teachers who want to do a similar “from garden-to-table” project and link it to nutrition education. I’m going to get the book Early Sprouts: Cultivating Healthy Food Choices in Young Children from Red Leaf Press, where the ideas are further developed and try the recipes! Sample recipes are available at the Early Sprouts website.
The author says that they teach children that taste preferences can change. They say “I like it a lot!” “I like it a little bit,” and “I don’t like it yet” to indicate strong positive, neutral, and negative or unfamiliar reactions to foods. And their students pick up and use these expressions.
Here’s my taste preference change story:
Once upon a time a friend brought me some spring rolls she made in the Vietnamese tradition, heavy on cilantro (an herb I had not yet eaten). My first bite I spit out, thinking that some non-food item had gotten mixed up in the spring rolls because I was tasting some kind of petroleum flavor. I soon had many more tastes of the cilantro leaf in Indian, Latin American, and more Vietnamese cooking–although I pushed it aside, I got small tastes. At some unnoted point I began thinking of it as a food flavor and now I love it and use it often. What exactly happened in my brain?
The Early Sprouts program is on-going, collecting scientific data on how growing food can enhance young children’s health through changing food preferences.
For more help in gardening with young children, the online newsletter Kids Gardening News from the National Gardening Association has tips for gardening, grant searches, and workshops. Find out what is happening in your area!
I’m going to try again to garden with the children and teachers in the programs where I’m a science teacher. This time I’ll try using a container with a water reservoir and plant peas and greens in September.
Peggy