A group of 3rd and 4th graders visited the West End Neighborhood Community Garden on Thursday afternoon. IFFS’s Nutrition Education Program, Food Matters, was there to provide a healthy snack demonstration with recipes provided so the kids could make the snack again at home. The demonstration showed kids how to prepare their own lettuce wraps that are eaten like tacos for a healthy snack! Fillings included a mix of black beans and garbanzo beans, strips of peppers, cucumbers, onions, carrots with salsa and garden-fresh herbs, like cilantro and parsley, to top it off.
IFFS Durham Community Gardens coordinator Elizabeth Newman said,
"The kids ate the lettuce wraps like their bodies craved this wholesome food. We had a hard time getting them to stop eating so we could do some gardening activities. It was pure pleasure to watch them eat this super healthy snack with such gusto!"
A few neighborhood kids came to play basketball next to the garden and they were interested in what these other kids were doing. The Food Matters crew invited them over, and they dove into the lettuce wraps, too. The jar of salsa was all but empty, but one little boy pushed his lettuce down into the jar to scrape the sides of the jar and then licked his whole hand, which was covered in salsa! The participants took bags of lettuce and peppers home with them, and ran back to say thank you before they left.
Elizabeth added, "That one Food Matters nutrition experience was worth a million dollars. I’m sure those children will think differently about all those veggies next time they see them."
