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Promoting Fruits and Vegetables
Promote Each Season
Holidays, seasons, planting time, harvest time, and other annual milestones
offer options for fruit and vegetable promotions. Feature foods that are in season
or foods that children associate with specific holidays. The seasonal food
chart on page 50 can help you choose which fruits and vegetables to feature.
Place more emphasis on fruits and vegetables than on the meat or meat
alternate in these meals to give children a new perspective on the celebration
and to encourage them to try the featured items.
Conduct Taste Tests
Let students sample new foods. This is a great way to encourage students to
add new items to their diet. Continue offering samples once items have been
included on the line to entice more students to try them.
Broward County, Florida, schools participating in a pilot project to increase
fruit and vegetable consumption offer samples on the line using taste-test size
cups and spoons. All students are offered a taste of the fruits and vegetables
as they get their lunch. Fox Trail Elementary School took it a step further by
involving the PTA. The school stage was decorated with lots of great fruits and
veggies, and samples of fruits and veggies in small plastic cups were put on
tables on the stage for every student to sample. The nutrition staff dressed in
colorful shirts and the students and parents loved it. As a followup, the
students come to the cafeteria once a month and pass out samples of the fruit
or veggie that foodservice staff is highlighting that month. While one group of
students passes out the samples, another group of students surveys responses
to the samples.
Let students sample
new foods.
Here is their survey form:
Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Survey
Grade Level _________________________ Food Item ___________________________
Have you eaten this food before?
Yes No If yes, how often? ____________________________________
Did you like this food?
Yes No If no, why not? _______________________________________
Would you eat this food if it were prepared another way?
Yes No
What particular vegetable or fruit would you like to see served at lunch?
___________________________________________________________________________
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