Elementary School Students Do Like Fresh Vegetables and Fruits

This just in, elementary students do like vegetables and fruits

One of the home cooks biggest frustrations is that kids often won't eat what we serve. Vegetables are often on the top of that list. Especially the green ones. And the leafy ones.

1st grader comes back for more spinach

Kids Will Eat Green Vegetables
I am here to tell you that kids do eat vegetables. Not only that, this too: kids are willing to try new vegetables. How do I know? Don't just believe me because of my own experience raising vegetable eating boys now ages 4 and 6. Believe me because I served 7 vegetables and 2 fruits to each of 400 elementary students last week's Taste Off Competition held at Sherwood Elementary, in Spring Branch ISD. And do you know what they did?

parent volunteer gets ready to serve spinach and broccoli

They ate them. They even liked some of them. Yes, yes, they even ate the green ones and the leafy ones. One 4th grade student reported as he was about to taste broccoli, "I've never had broccoli before." Turns out he asked for more. Many students asked for seconds. Yes, yes! Kids wanted seconds of broccoli and spinach and carrots, celery and beans! Of course they wanted more oranges and pears, but we expected that right?

1st grader tries oranges

What did I feed them at Friday's Taste-Off Competition? (via generous donations from HEB, thank you thank you thank you HEB!)

Bite sized pieces of celery, carrots, broccoli, orange, pear, spinach, cucumbers, green beans and beans (drained canned pintos). These items were chosen because they are the good majority of the fresh fruits and vegetables offered in SBISD's school food program. These same fruits and veggies are available in the cafeteria.

Kinder students display punch cards

What Did Elementary Students Taste?
Almost everything! There was a pinto bean run out mid-morning. I ended up at the store buying another 111oz can of beans for hungry students. After one group finished, I was counting handouts and noticed a student hovering. I asked him if he had a question for me. He shook his head. I asked him if he wanted to tell me something. He nodded. Then there was a pregnant pause. I said "I'm listening." Finally he musters up the courage to say "I want more." with a shy grin. I will probably never forget that moment.

• 328 out of 400 students tasted all 9 items served.
  
• Only 5% of students opted out of spinach or broccoli.
  
• Raw spinach and broccoli were tasted by 380 students grades PK-5th.
• Many classes had perfect tastings, meaning each kid tasted each item.
  

The question becomes......

Why did so many Elementary students eat these veggies when they won't do the same in the cafeteria or at home?

I have some conjectures:

2nd grad student tries a cucumber

• The only food available during the Taste-Off competition were the unadorned raw fruits and vegetables. No bowls of chips, no platters of cookies, no crackers, no cooler full of juice boxes and chocolate milk were available. No pizza, no meat-on-bun, no pasta, no rolls, no goldfish. Taste buds weren't bombarded with sugar, salt, and chemically-engineered-to-taste-good food.
• It was a novel experience, and food was being served to them by novel folks (parent volunteers most kids had never met). Not mom and dad at home, not the same old cafeteria lady. I'm sure some kids tasted just because they weren't comfortable protesting in unfamiliar territory.
• It wasn't meal time, therefore most kids probably had some appetite. You'd be surprised how much more willing kids are to eat what's available (even when it's unappealing) when they are actually hungry.
• We bribed them. This was competition style produce tasting. Students knew that the classes with the most "tastings" would get a reward: extra recess time. I am not beyond giving a little extra fresh air, wiggle room and sunshine to kids who eat their veggies.
• Herd mentality. I'm sure many kids just did what everyone else was doing. And since most kids weren't turning their noses up, gagging and spitting food out, down the hatch the veggies went. (I mean no offense to kids with sensory disorders).
  
• Distraction. There was so much going on at the event, crowds of kids holding dixie cups, munching away, there was probably little time for kids to have disastrous food hating thoughts like ''ewww that's green, i don't want it" or "i've never tasted that, it's probably gross" or "yuck, healthy vegetables taste bad" or "vegetables, no way, no how."
  
• We made a connection between food and learning. Even I am not delusional in thinking that this was the strongest force pulling kids to gobble up. Believe me when I tell you, many eyes were wide with interest when I told them that these same veggies were lurking in the cafeteria waiting to be put on a tray, eaten, and fuel a brain. Especially grades 1-4. They were the most receptive to the Eat to Learn message.

coach explains how punch cards will work

To All You Grown Ups Who Think Kids Don't Like (or eat) Vegetables
You are wrong. I'm sorry to have to bust this myth, but happily, you are very very wrong. I have 400 elementary school students and 4,951 tastes to prove it. You may know kids who don't like (or eat) vegetables yet. You may live with some of these kids. You may teach some of these kids. You may be extraordinarily frustrated by the fact that these kids won't eat the vegetables you know they need. But they will. I assure you, they will. Believe that they will, and they will.

And if you are a grown up who still doesn't like to eat vegetables, guess what? I believe you can learn to like vegetables too. Come. On. You learned to read and write. You learned to ride a bike. Maybe you learned how to teach children, practice tort law or how to figure Cost of Goods Sold. No doubt you've learned some pretty complicated arcane stuff in your life time. Surely you can do something as delicious as learn to like a few vegetables. No?

What To Do While You Wait For Your Kids To Try (and eventually like) Vegetables?

Food with Kid Appeal Tip Simple. Ask them to eat it. Tell them they make their brain smart. Tell them it will make them a better mathematician, reader, speller, scientist, lego builder, baseball player or whatever it is they like to do that uses brain power. If they still resist, grab it from their plate, let it feed your brain, and say "I believe that one day, you'll want to eat vegetables that power your brain." Then drop the subject until you serve vegetables again. Repeat at each meal.

What should school food service professionals take away from this?
You know all those "healthy" items you think have low acceptability? All those healthy menu changes you've made that few kids are participating in? It's not that kids won't accept them. It's that kids won't accept them when they have other preferable items around. Need more proof? This study showed that kids will accept low sugar cereals "when that is the only option offered."

If schools really want kids to eat fresh fruits and vegetables they need to clear out all the carnival food and significantly reduce the emphasis on dairy and grains. Is this possible given the current regulations? Probably not. Sure is a bummer we can't set kids on a better path to a strong education by providing them with ONLY the nutrients they need. Chocolate milk is not a necessary nutrient. Neither is daily burger or chicken sandwich.

Food Revolution and Let's Move advocates, are you reading this?

student decides his least favorite food

Are you stunned? Would you ever have predicted that

• 95% of elementary kids would taste broccoli and spinach?
  
• 82% would taste 9 out of 9 things offered?
  
• 48% would prefer a vegetable over a fruit?
  
• 25% would prefer a green vegetable over other veggies and fruit?
  
• even one child much less 20 would vote spinach as their favorite when up against carrot, orange and pear?

Help me bust the myth that kids don't like vegetables
Just ask for permission to republish this article on your blog or write your own opinion piece about it. Share the link via email, facebook and twitter with parents and educators!  Better yet, forward this to your PTA group or school principal and ask for an event like this at your school.