Former service member Allison Marshall collaborates with present service member Sarah Dixon to introduce local, healthy food to Gaston County cafeteria trays.
by Hannah Taylor
In the garden of Edward D. Sadler Jr. Elementary School in Gastonia, third graders sit on picnic benches surrounded by beds of leafy vegetables. Each student holds a piece of radish, harvested just minutes before.
“Don’t eat it yet!” calls Sarah Dixon, the FoodCorps service member running the garden program. The kids squirm and a few steal a nibble. From the anticipation on their faces, you’d think they were waiting to tear into a pile of chocolate chip cookies.
As they pop the morsels into their mouths, some kids squeal and others grimace, but Dixon’s rule is to give every food a chance.
“Now, raise your hands when you think of a word to describe what you taste,” Dixon says. Hands fly up and words go down on a poster board. “Spicy!” “Juicy!”
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