Edible Education - A Reader Responds!

A strong community grows one person at a time, one family at a time. Sometimes all it takes is a reminder of the values that people grew up cherishing, but have forgotten in the busy-ness of life. Here's one reader's response to my previous post about edible education (teaching kids to grow and cook their own food at school):

Your blog about the sustainable gardens has come to fruit. My wife got wind of it when I told her about your blog so she started a sustainable garden at her Pre-School. We are starting with tomatoes, summer squash, and watermelons. The little ones get to help with every step. We can already see the different sprouts starting to break through at each row. We taught the little kids that they have to water with a watering can that gives out just a soft easy supply of water to the new plants. They can't wait to be able to harvest their vegetables that we will use for snack time. The parents are also excited about this project. We have encouraged them to start gardens at their homes.

This is a great family thing to do. I remember my Dad teaching us these same things when I was a kid back in the 50's. Back then everyone in the neighborhood had a garden (and plenty of fruit tress). I loved every minute of it when I was a kid. Especially the part about eating what we grew or sharing it with other neighbors. My Mom made the best Rubarb pie. It also seemed like all of it tasted so much better. I think the big part of it was that all of the family was involved and so were all of our neighbors. Here in the 21st century (2008) it just might take off again.

I just talked to my neighbor who has two little girls about starting a garden. She is actually clearing an area and borrowed my rake to get out all of the rocks. It's so cute to see her little girls so excited about having a garden. Who's next?

Indeed, who's next? This is an idea that can spread like wildfire if we only give it a chance. Many thanks to Chuck H. of Fairfax, California for sharing his thoughts and experiences with us!

Edible Education: Food for Thought

Last week, I attended a lively panel discussion in San Francisco titled "How We Eat and the Slow Food Nation." The panel featured Alice Waters, one of the most famous chefs in America and founder of the Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. Her talk highlighted the ways in which we can strengthen and revitalize our sense of community through a more mindful approach to food. She recounted that when she was a teenager in the 1960s, she visited France and observed that the people there visited the market every morning, buying only the freshest ingredients available that day. No processed food, no food shipped from far away. She noticed how food connected family and friends together in the "rituals of the table," making life so much more enjoyable and vibrant. Thus inspired, she returned to America with a mission: to bring back that same sense of community, enlivened through delicious food bought directly from farmers and cooked with an emphasis on letting the simple, natural flavors predominate. Eventually, this approach became known as California cuisine, and history was made.

These days, Alice is promoting edible education in the schools. Her program, called the "Edible Schoolyard," provides urban schoolchildren with a hands-on, concrete learning experience in growing their own organic food and cooking it in a kitchen classroom. In the process, the kids learn about ecology, biology, and nutrition, while also enjoying the tangible fruits of their own labors. As described on the "Edible Schoolyard" website, the program's mission is two-fold:

Children learn about the connection between what they eat and where it comes from, with the goal of fostering environmental stewardship and revolutionizing the school lunch program.

In this way, not only do kids learn important lessons about taking care of themselves and the larger world through a more direct experience of food, but they also eat more nutritiously. Sounds like a win-win to me!

If edible education sounds like a good idea to you, I urge you to take action. Discuss this idea with others in your community and persuade your local school to establish its own "Edible Schoolyard." The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Start now and you can make a difference, too!