Happy Birthday to us!

Real Food 4 Kids has just turned one! We're pretty excited about all we’ve accomplished in our first year…

cooking classes, including single-session classes, private parties and 3 full weeks of summer camps
food education classes for kids ages pre-K through 8th grade, in both schools and day camps
blogging and other articles
conferences

We’re already gearing up for new opportunities, starting with a weekly after-school enrichment program beginning this week, our new 6-week cooking clubs, and curriculum development. And, we’ll still keep up with our food education classes, single cooking classes and blogging. Each interaction helps to motivate the next one, keeping every day fresh and filled with possibilities of what’s to come. We are excited!

After one year, we are even more passionate about our mission than we were on day one! That’s because we have already seen how much of an impact educating kids about food can make in their day-to-day life. In our first year, we have seen first-hand that kids are learning, kids are trying new things, and kids are asking their parents for more real food at home! Wouldn’t it be amazing if they keep up these great habits for the rest of their lives? Here are some highlights from year 1:

Kids are learning!

Learning new things can be fun! Here are a few examples of what kids learned during our food education classes:

We eat ALL parts of the plant, including the roots, stems, leaves, fruit, and seeds. Can you think of 3 for each?
Fruits and vegetables come in all colors of the rainbow, offering many different nutrients.
Many kids tried different fruits and vegetables for the first time, including sweet bell peppers, kiwi, rhubarb (the early season stalks aren’t very bitter), beets, kale, and purple carrots.
Applesauce doesn’t require added sugar. We made applesauce in the classroom using just apples and a bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice. It was amazing and it made the classroom smell great!
Of the 35+ unique fruits and vegetables brought into the classroom, only swiss chard stumped EVERYONE.
Vanilla comes from a bean
Ingredients are always listed on food packaging in the order of most to least.
The average store-bought packaged granola bar can contain more than 30 ingredients. We made delicious energy bites in the classroom in 10 minutes using just 7 ingredients.

Kids are trying new things!

Sometimes, it can take up to 15 tries for a child to like something. So if at first you don’t succeed, it’s OK, and you can always try again. During our food education classes, over 95% of kids in grades K-2 and 90% of kids in grades 3-8 tried the foods brought into the classroom. During our cooking classes, we gave kids the opportunity to try any ingredient we were using in a recipe, and we learned that many kids will try almost anything. Here’s a fun snapshot of what we found during cooking classes this year:

Regardless of how bad the individual ingredients might taste, the end result ends up being delicious!

Kids are asking their parents for more real food.

Here are a few things that parents have shared:

My child came home from school and asked me to buy kiwi at the grocery store!
During the Taco Tuesday class, my child tried NEW food!
My child came home from class and asked to go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients to make the english muffins and pancakes from cooking class.
I've never had a homemade English muffin! It was delish!!
My daughter had so much fun already made home peanut butter and going to surprise her dad in bed with a fried egg sandwich!!!
My son made the Homemade Lasagna for his grandmother, including the ricotta and tomato sauce from scratch!

This business was borne out of a passion for educating kids about food. Children are so incredibly open to learning, which makes our job incredibly rewarding! We are looking forward to another great year!

Sue, with Real Food 4 Kids