Jamie Oliver, the world renowned chef with 4 million twitter followers believes that children who plant and nurture their own fruits and vegetables are far more likely to eat them.

The Omar Niode Foundation is fortunate to be in his global network where we organize the annual Food Revolution Day to encourage children to cook because those who learn to cook are more likely to make better food choices and understand healthy eating.

Jamie established Jamie Oliver’s Kitchen Garden Project to inspire schools across the UK to get involved in food education in a practical way.

The project is centered on a hub of beautiful digital resources, designed to give teachers the confidence to captivate children through food and encourage an understanding of the natural progression from garden to kitchen. There are now 33 schools in the Kitchen Garden Project family across the UK.

It is interesting that the works of Chef Stephanie Alexander in Australia inspired Jamie.  Stephanie, who has more than 30 years experience as owner-chef of several Australian restaurants, is a prolific writer with 14 books and hundreds of articles on food.

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation was established in 2004  to take a revolutionary approach to food education focusing on pleasure, flavor and fun.

There are now 744 Kitchen Garden Schools in Australia assisted by curriculum-linked resources for gardens and kitchens.

 Photos: Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

Among Stephanie’s recipe for effective food education is to expand culinary horizons by presenting cultural differences as fascinating rather than strange. It is also important to expand vocabularies for describing foods, flavors, textures, plants and processes. Also it is best to come together at the end of cooking at school to share meals around the table.

We had a chance to visit some schools in Australia who are enrolled in the Kitchen Garden Program. Most of the gardens are modest in size, containing fruits, vegetables and local herbs. Some children that we met were able to identify the fruits and vegetables in the garden and are proud of their school kitchens.

The Port Fairy Consolidated School in Victoria Involves its students in sowing, growing, preparing and sharing food from the garden to a shared table.

An evaluation of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program has demonstrated that there are clear changes in child attitudes, knowledge, skills and confidence in relation to cooking and gardening.

In Indonesia, KEHATI, the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation collaborates with the Pertamina Foundation for a program called Kehati Sekolah Sobat Bumi. It is a program of integrated management of biological resources through the development of a Biodiversity Park called Mini Botanical Garden, Healthy Canteen and Waste Management.

 Photos: KEHATI Sekolah Sobat Bumi

The initial program was set up in 7 Primary Schools, located in Pekanbaru, Bogor, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Denpasar, and Balikapapan. Each pilot school will then mentor 10 more schools for a similar program with the following activities:

1) Learning together - creating local food, profiling school garden collection, campaign; 2) Mini botanical garden – collection of local species and medicinal plants; 3) Managing school waste – plastic reduction, recycling and composting; and Healthy canteen – providing local food

 Photos: KEHATI Sekolah Sobat Bumi

The success indicators for such activities, according to Rina Kusuma of KEHATI, range from integrating the program into the school’s curriculum; participation of students and teachers, and communities; to innovation in utilizing plant biodiversity and campaigning about the program.

Whereas Kehati Sekolah Sobat Bumi applied for funds to run their activities, the Port Fairy Consolidated Schools carried out a variety of fund raising activities. Over the years the school has published a cookbook, organized fundraising dinner, opened pop-up restaurants in the school classes, invited visiting garden groups to morning teas, and sold preserves and seedlings and food prepared by the children.

Food education, Jamie Oliver says, is without doubt one of life’s most important skills – just as valuable as reading, writing and mathematics.

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Images

Cover: Manfredxy/123rf. All others: Omar Niode foundation, unless otherwise noted.