A Sept. 21 2009 article in The Nation written by slow-food guru, Alice Waters, notes the building evidence for the mind-body connection when it comes to food. Especially food and kids. The article mentions Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary, Super Size Me, which features (among other things) Central Alternative High School, a school for troubled youth in Appleton, Wisconsin. In looking for ways to turn things around, Central’s teachers, parents and administrators changed the food. Instead of the usual processed meals, the school cafeteria began offering fresh, locally grown, low-fat, low-sugar alternatives. The healthier meals are delicious. The students love them. They perform better in class and don’t get sick as often. And strikingly, discipline problems dropped sharply. “We are learning [Waters writes] that when schools serve healthier meals, they solve serious educational and health-related problems.”
This should not come as a surprise but somehow does. But Waters goes on to say that that’s not the real end of our story – or shouldn’t be.
“…what’s missing from the national conversation about school lunch reform is the opportunity to use food to teach values that are central to democracy. Better food isn’t just about test scores, health and discipline. It is about preparing students for the responsibilities of citizenship.
“That’s why we need to talk about edible education, not just school lunch reform. Edible education is a radical yet common-sense approach to teaching that integrates classroom instruction, school lunch, cooking and gardening into the studies of math, science, history and reading.
“Edible education involves not only teaching children about where food comes from and how it is produced but giving them responsibilities in the school garden and kitchen. Students literally enjoy the fruits of their labor when the food they grow is served in healthy, delicious lunches that they can help prepare.”
Sabine Harvey’s school gardens are another piece of the puzzle.
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