One of the main goals of Slow Food is to educate children in how to be connected with the land, by knowing where food comes from and how to obtain it cleanly and fairly.
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| Terri presents the cheque to Brock Taylor, the new Captain of the State High School |
Robyn Woolgar from Slow Food with School Captain, Brock Taylor &Terri Taylor |
Terri (middle) talks to the assembled students about the benefits of slow food
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Robyn from the Tamborine Mountain Slow Food Group and Terri Taylor |
The large area assigned to horticulture on the school grounds |
Last week Slow Food had the pleasure of presenting a cheque to Brock Taylor the new captain of Tamborine Mountain State High School to purchase a worm farm for the horticulture department and some software for the hospitality department.
The school has thriving grape vines soon to be harvested to make wine. The hospitality and home economics department is full of happy students cooking wonderful food. In the veggie garden we saw beans, potatoes and asparagus ready for harvesting.
I think that every school should have a garden and cooking department if we are to change the way children approach and think about food. All around the country, children are starting to enthusiastically get their hands dirty and learn how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, nutritional, seasonal food.
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The graphic that fattened America - this information was wrong.
Pyramids of “good” and “bad “foods failed to make changes
into the food habits of our children. |
It is talked about a lot in the media that children are unhealthy and overweight. Few children eat the number of serves of fruit and vegetables recommended for optimum health.
The education of nutrition in schools had disappeared as the message wasn’t getting through. Tables and pyramids of “good” and “bad “foods failed to make changes into the food habits of our children.
It is with this new approach of talking about the love and enjoyment in the preparation and ultimate eating of fresh nutritious food, let alone the ability to care for oneself by preparing simple healthy dishes.
Cooking and gardening programs in schools can provide positive and memorable food experiences that will form the basis of healthy lifelong eating habits.
Food and Taste Education
Slow Food supports an innovative approach to taste education based on the re-awakening and training of the senses and the study of all aspects of food: from field to fork.
By understanding where our food comes from, how it was produced and by whom, adults and children can learn how to combine pleasure and responsibility in daily choices and appreciate the cultural and social importance of food.
Slow Food education projects differ from most food education as they are based on the idea that food means pleasure, culture and conviviality.
Unfortunately fewer families eat dinner together and it is not uncommon for children to eat dinner in front of the television, where the only advice they receive regarding food choices is from the manufactures of convenience foods.
By including gardening and cooking as part of the curriculum at school children will learn the enjoyment and satisfaction of preparing healthy satisfying food.
Everyone should have a cookbook with a few recipes that they can build on.
What is Slow Food?
As the name suggests, Slow Food represents everything that fast food does not: fresh, local, seasonal produce;
- recipes handed down through generations;
- sustainable farming practices (including organics);
- small scale artisan food production;
- and relaxed, leisurely dining in the company of family and friends.
Convivium (local Slow Food groups) activities introduce local foods and producers to both members and non-members, while Taste Workshops offer guided tastings with food experts. School initiatives like convivium school gardens offer our youngest eaters hands-on learning experiences about the food they eat and grow themselves.
For more information on the Tamborine Mountain Slow Food Convivium you can visit their website at:
www.slowfoodtamborinemt.org.au