Give It a Try!

Published in our November 2024 newsletter

A nutritious diet includes lots of fruits and vegetables, but encouraging students to eat more produce is not always easy or straightforward! To help students get comfortable with a variety of fruits and vegetables, EAT RIGHT PHILLY offers Fruit or Vegetable of the Month, a program that introduces a different fruit or vegetable to students each month of the school year. Depending on the site, the fruit or vegetable is either offered in a basic form or as part of a healthy recipe.

Nutrition Coordinator Michaela took a unique approach when serving up peas at Locke elementary school with the help of Drexel Student Sam. She had students start with a small tasting of peas lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder so they could experience the vegetable in a simple form. Once they had tried the basic peas, she offered students a sample of our featured recipe, Pasta with Peas, which includes whole wheat noodles and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese along with the peas.

After sampling the peas, students got to rate the tasting using sticky notes on a whiteboard. Though the scale asked for a 1-5 numerical rating (with 5 being “really liked it” and 1 being “not for me”), students were so excited about the peas that many rated the tasting 10/10, 100/100, or even 1000!

Seeing their peers trying the peas encouraged students who were initially hesitant about the sample to give it a taste. Students that remembered Michaela offering Fruit or Vegetable of the Month tastings last year were especially excited to see her back this year, one even running over for a quick hug! Most of the students sampled the peas, and nearly everyone ended up liking them, mentioning that they were “yummy” and “really good”. Lots of students took a copy of the Pasta with Peas recipe to bring home to their families too (try it out here!).

If you’re interested in having a Fruit or Vegetable of the Month tasting at your school, reach out to your Nutrition Coordinator. EAT RIGHT PHILLY can help support a culture of healthy eating and openness to trying new things at your school!