With any relationship, you must work to grow and deepen the connection. So is the same for food! Sweet. Salt. Bitter. Sour. Umami. Metallic. Astringent. Taste sensations along with other senses – smell and vision – heavily influence our experiences with food. And with children, you are also dealing with motor coordination, cognition, social development and emotional aspects. As you can see, so many things come into play in child feeding. But one thing is sure. Exposing children to different food experiences can yield very positive results. Allow me to share a recent experience with you, as I promise that it does involve lessons to be learned for your child and mine.

The American Institute of Wine and Food's Days of Taste was held at the Dallas Farmers Market in May 2010.  AIWF's Days of Taste occurs throughout the country.  Contact your AIWF local chapter to find out how you can be involved in your area.

In May, I was a volunteer at The American Institute of Wine and Food (AIWF) Days of Taste in Dallas. One of my friends and colleagues, Robin Plotkin, RD, LD, was the event’s Program Manager and she asked me to be a part of the event. Days of Taste is a  national discovery-based program that exposes local fourth and fifth grade students to learn all aspect of food. Students were brought to the Dallas Farmers Market where they learned and experienced taste sensations, experienced different flavors and heard real-life stories from local culinary professionals. As a volunteer, I was in charge of a small group of students. We were given a task to make our own, customized pasta salad. The pasta and sauce ingredients were provided, but we were charged to get some fresh ingredients at the market. Each student was given $1 (our group had a total of $5) to purchase whatever we wanted to make our pasta salad unique. These students absolutely blew me over at how interested and excited they were to take part in this project! Armed with our limited budget, we headed to the local producer shed and off we went looking for our fresh items. The kids agreed on celery, carrots, onion and tomatoes after working deals with the farmers. While we were at the market, we were able to meet several farmers and find out where many of their farms were located. After we got back to the classroom, I gave each of the students individual responsibilities in preparing the salad. Several of the students said they had never had a salad that looked like ours and even thought the sauce looked strange to them. I encouraged them all to keep an open mind and that this was something we were gong to experience together. As a group, they ate their production with great pride. I am thrilled to report that all of my students loved their recipe! One little girl even said that she was going to have a talk with her mother when she got home to request more fruits and vegetables at their house. Another student said she might want to be a chef when she grows up. This experience for me was so nourishing in more ways than the food I ingested! It renewed my passion about educating, exposing and empowering children when it comes to food. But more specifically, I was reminded of many things that day:

1. We must do more food education programs for children. Kudos to the AIWF! The more we educate, expose and empower our children with all things related to food, the more they will appreciate food variety, differing flavors and learn to be more open minded when it comes to food. Just like anything else in life, the more we experience something that is positive, the more we want to re-experience and examine further. What I would absolutely love to see is the school cafeteria to be part of the school curriculum. Jamie Oliver, best known for his Food Revolution, has done a great job exposing communities to companies that can assist in food education. Companies, associations, organizations, schools and communities take note.

Me and my students posing with our customized pasta salad recipe. (One student's face covered due to request of protected identity.)

2. Food experiences in groups yield higher acceptance. This is not the first time I have seen children be more open-minded than expected when experiencing food in a group educational format. These environments make children feel less pressure to eat for nutritional reasons and more for the overall experience and learning aspects.

3. Families need to spend more time experiencing food with their families. This speaks to me as a mother. I enjoy cooking with my children, although I am encouraged to involve them in more aspects of feeding our family even if it might take a little more time. If you have a challenged eater in your home, make a special point to have “no pressure” experiences with food, i.e., experience food in a non-meal situation. Make it a classroom affair. Consider growing a produce item and make plans to eat your crop with a recipe of your child’s choice. Visit a local farm. Search out new farmers markets in your area. Do a taste sensation lesson together.  

Bottom line lesson here: Let’s get back to experiencing food the way they did before all the mass production of food of the modern age. We have all lost essential experiences with food that allow us to truly appreciate different flavors. Seek out farm to table education for your children. (The Local Harvest website is a great start!) Children in the 1800’s had no choice, although I would venture to say that the children back then appreciated food more for many reasons.  Make steps to make an enhancement when it comes to your family's relationship with food, and that will ultimately equate to improved nutrition for your children. I needed this lesson for my children’s sake and the summer has come at a perfect time to do this as a family!