MNN - Mother Nature Network

Real food is important, but kids aren’t learning that in school, and many of them don’t learn that at home. This infographic for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day shows how kids are out of touch with what's on their plates, how this lack of knowledge is making them sick, and how education and dietary changes can cause big changes in health, school and even finances.

 

I asked one of my sons if he knows where pasta comes from. He said, “I’m pretty sure it comes from wheat.” Then I asked if he knows where yogurt comes from. He told me, “milk.” Phew!

 

I told him the statistics on the infographic, and he said he knows why kids think yogurt comes from plants. He said there is always a picture of a fruit or flower on the yogurt cup. Not bad reasoning. The yogurt we buy is organic, and the vanilla yogurt package has a flower on it; the fruit-flavored package usually has fruit on it. Still, aren’t there usually pictures of cows on the packaging, too?

 

Food education is important. Schools aren’t teaching it or aren’t teaching it well. My son’s seventh-grade health curriculum still includes the out-of-date food pyramid. We need to be requesting better food and nutrition education in our schools, and in the meantime we need to be teaching it at home, too.

 

I think tonight, I’m going to make sure that my boys know what everything is on their plate, what it’s called, and what it’s made from.