Jefferson Parish Head Start Center Dietician Introduces Local Food Items and Nutrition Education during Farm to School Month

During National Farm to School Month, students at Jutland Head Start tasted locally grown cucumbers and satsumas. Program Dietitian, Helen Woo, worked with students to conduct three nutrition education lessons during the month. For each lesson, they wrote a short note to parents explaining the activity they did that day. In the first and second lessons, they explained the concept of local by showing fruits and vegetables that come from far away, like pineapples and kiwi, and those that come from nearby, like cucumbers, squash and sweet potatoes. They passed the fruits and vegetables around so children could touch them and talk about colors, shapes, and texture. They cut some open so they could see what color the fruit was on the inside – most students had no idea a kiwi was green on the inside! Before the second lesson, they took the cucumbers and pickled them. It blew the kids minds! One of the children with an advanced vocabulary said the pickle was "delicious". For the final lesson, they tasted satsumas and gave each child a satsuma to decorate like a jack-o'-lantern and take home. The children really enjoyed tasting the new foods, touching the different kinds of fruits and vegetables, and making their own jack-o'-lanterns. Some children couldn’t wait until the end of the day and ate their satsuma during the lesson!