Riverford Organic Farmers are taking action with a new scheme to get children at local schools, nurseries and pre-schools to love eating vegetables, with concerns about sugar and childhood obesity on the rise.
Riverford’s Bath branch has announced that Freshford Pre-school is the first to register in the scheme.
They kicked off the partnership, which will also help the Pre-school to raise funds when parents get vegboxes delivered to their homes, with a veg cookery lesson.
After an interactive talk about where vegetables come from and why it’s important to eat a balanced diet, the children washed, chopped, snipped, spiralised, squeezed and grated fruit, veg and herbs to create tasty and colourful rainbow salads.
Debbie Giles, the Pre-school Leader, said: “Here at Freshford Pre-school we’re working towards our B&NES Healthy Early Years Award so Riverford’s cookery lesson was spot on for getting the children immersed in vegetables.
“They all had a lot of fun smelling, tasting and preparing the vegetables and trying out fun kitchen gadgets.”
Vicki Mowat, Riverford Bath veglady, said: “One of the best things you can do for your children is involve them in preparing family meals. This can be time-consuming and messy, but it’s important as what you teach them now will build firm foundations for their future attitudes towards healthy eating.
“Let them wash, chop, grate and touch fruit and vegetables, and talk about where they come from. A vegbox is an ideal way to do this, and we also have loads of hints and tips to help parents encourage children to eat well and get them involved in the kitchen in fun and safe ways.”
The Riverford Veg for Schools scheme is open to all schools, pre-schools and nurseries.
Find out more at www.riverford.co.uk/veg-for-schools or call Vicki on 01225 437438.
