Growing Healthy Kids begins with the basics

Knowing how to grow food, learning when and how to harvest it, how to prepare and cook it, and enjoying and sharing the ‘fruits of your labour’ are cornerstones of good health and positive food culture.

These four elements – growing, harvesting, preparing, sharing – are intrinsic to the work of the Kitchen Garden Foundation, formed through an underlying focus on health education, and the need to instil positive food habits in our children. Through demonstrating and empowering real food’s sense of purpose and responsibility in our children, in an engaging and pleasurable manner, we are striving to effect generational change.

And there is much work to be done.

We recently conducted a survey with our Principal Partner Medibank, who we are working with to ‘Grow Healthy Kids’. This survey was conducted in order to ascertain levels of parental concern regarding children’s food knowledge and habits, as well as to establish the degree of food knowledge among Australian children. Given the importance of food in nurturing good health we were interested in understanding the wider public’s familiarity with the techniques associated with growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing real food.

Over 1000 families were surveyed, and responses include those from parents as well as children, who were asked to complete the survey independently.

The questions formulated were intended to elicit simple responses to basic questions around familiar foods, simple cooking techniques and everyday food habits, and care was taken to ensure respondents were not discomfited by the line of questioning. Questions were also tailored with different Australian familial backgrounds, education and climate zones in mind.

The results in some cases were pleasing – children’s knowledge of the origin of basic animal products such as honey, eggs and dairy milk – was significant. However, parental concern in the ability of their child to undertake basic tasks such as cooking rice on a stove, or baking a potato highlight that the fundamentals of cooking aren’t as widespread as they could, and should, be.

In the case of growing food, it is a rewarding experience to witness the raw excitement and capability of children empowered to establish and maintain gardens at a Kitchen Garden Program School. However, with the survey highlighting that only half of children help to grow fruit, vegetables and herbs at home, the opportunity exists to positively impact on health in the home environment in a profound and ultimately beneficial manner.

Medibank and the Kitchen Garden Foundation hope that by sharing the survey results, public awareness can be drawn to Australian children’s potential lack of food knowledge, and parental concern regarding this issue.

View the full survey results.

The opportunity to impact positive food habits for life, and ‘Grow Healthy Kids’, not only exists – it is thriving. Over 1000 schools and counting are involved in pleasurable food education through the work of the Kitchen Garden Foundation. Want to know how you can get involved?  Just contact us via our Support Line on 13000 SAKGF or support@kitchengardenfoundation.org.au.