The Washington Post’s Jane Black profiles FoodCorps’ Maine program for her inaugural column, Smarter Food: “FoodCorps targets a key weakness in the growing and ever-more-fashionable effort to teach children where food comes from and wean them off french fries and pizza in the cafeteria,” Black writes. “It puts boots on the ground to develop the … Continued
The Washington Post’s Jane Black profiles FoodCorps’ Maine program for her inaugural column, Smarter Food:
“FoodCorps targets a key weakness in the growing and ever-more-fashionable effort to teach children where food comes from and wean them off french fries and pizza in the cafeteria,” Black writes. “It puts boots on the ground to develop the programs that many educators believe are important but, in an era of drastic budget cuts, don’t have the resources to fund.”
“’My interests have always been food and kids, and I wanted to do something that brings those two things together. So FoodCorps was pretty much a no-brainer,’ said Laura Budde, a member based in Gardiner, an hour northeast of Portland.”
“’You watch the things they bring for lunch, and you want them to eat something good,’ said first-grade teacher Linda Wilson, who has taught for 31 years and is herself an avid gardener. ‘Education is so prescribed these days. We don’t have the time or the resources. If someone comes in and is prepared to do it, it’s wonderful.'”
“Anecdotally, the future looks promising. ‘I never thought about eating healthy before,’ said Ifrah Abdi, a 16-year-old at Portland High School who is also a member of the high school culinary corps that Saks is teaching to garden and cook. ‘The fact is, you can grow good food and cook it, and it’s better than going to the supermarket. Not everyone, especially immigrant families, can afford organic food. This makes a real difference.’ “
Read the full article here.
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