The “Tasting Classes for Kids” program provides fresh fruit and vegetable tasting demonstrations during lunch period at school and/or classroom during school hours. The tasting demonstrations provide students with one or more servings of fresh fruit or vegetable during school hours. The tasting classes increase their consumption of healthy foods, exposure to a variety of fruits and vegetables and promote a healthier school environment. These demonstrations can be one to two hours long and require no cooking. During the tasting demonstrations students are encouraged to explore fresh foods using all of their senses, to have fun and to exercise choice. Children will taste different varieties of fruits or vegetables that they may not have had the opportunity to eat at home.
Since the tasting demonstrations do not involve cooking, they can be conducted in the classrooms during school hours by teachers or parent volunteers. Classroom teachers or a parent volunteer can easily provide a tasting demonstration in the classroom using lesson plans, letters from farmers, food history, and nutrition information provided by the program coordinator.
These tasting demonstrations will be offered once a month at each elementary school cafeteria by the program coordinator and as many times as requested by teachers or parent volunteers. The classroom teacher or a parent volunteer will be conducting the classes with materials provided by the food educator. The teacher or parent volunteer will have a short orientation from the food educator prior to the session.
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