Sustainable Diets

Key idea: There are different forms of transportation – e.g. Producing a tally of the forms of transport used by children and staff, identifying more sustainable alternatives (UC6.6)

Title: How did that get into my lunchbox?
Author: Chris Butterworth
Illustrator: Lucia Gaggiotti
Publisher:  ‎Candlewick Press
Publication Date:  2011
ISBN:‎ 978-0763650056

An engaging look at the steps involved in producing some common foods. Also some healthy tips and an introduction to basic food groups.

Emergent learning:

Being a sustainable citizen is all about making sustainable choices. It’s about being a sustainable consumer, being economic and conserving nature and its resources. As a child you can’t learn to make good choices if your parents and other adults around you make all your choices for you.

In many homes and preschools children are encouraged to choose their own play toys and activities and ‘snacks times’ also provide a great opportunity for them to learn to be more independent, how to make decisions, about making sustainable choices, about sharing, and about respecting the needs and choices made by others.

Snack time also provides a context for the development of crucial fine motor skills like pouring and cutting, for the child to improve language and math skills by discussing food, portions and sharing, and also to learn about their own appetites and food choices.

Activity recommendation:

Every mealtime can be a rich educational experience, and the more we can involve the children in making choices and in the preparation of food the better. Touching, smelling and tasting the food is an opportunity to talk, to socialise, and to develop their senses, mathematical understandings and emergent science. We can also organise trips to local food producers and shops so the children can see where their food comes from.
Advice to support planning of menus in the UK is available from the Soil Association and from the Food for Life programme although they are heavily meat and dairy based. More sustainable, and healthier dietary options are vegetable and fruit based. There is much to be learnt from considering studying food pyramids, including the Whole Food Vegan Food Pyramid: