MORE CARROT, LESS STICK How TastEd are transforming food education

Persuading school children to try new vegetables and fruits can be tricky. Award winning charity TastEd, was founded in 2019 and aims to give children the opportunity to experience different vegetables and fruits in a fun, no-pressure environment. It does this by providing nurseries and primary schools with a range of free taste education lessons, tailored to the English National Curriculum. The programme currently operates throughout 650 primary schools and nurseries.

Bee Wilson, trustee and co-founder of TastEd, says “Our mission is to bring sensory education to schools and children. We would love this kind of food education in every primary school and nursery in Britain. If you look at children’s diets, it’s often the fruit and veg that’s missing.”

A typical TastEd lesson involves exploring a range of fruit and vegetables in a classroom environment, inviting children to discuss what they see, hear and touch. Bee says “It’s wonderful to see children listening to a stick of celery or shaking a strawberry next to their ear.” The charity has produced a suite of Powerpoint slides and lesson plans for teachers including beautiful illustrations of “food art” created by resident artist Annabel Lee “so children can see how beautiful a raw tomato is.”

Teachers have reported that TastEd lessons make children more confident around food and more willing to try something new. They also say it makes children more adventurous in the school dining hall. “They make different choices and gravitate towards dishes with fruit and veg,” says Bee.

Another knock-on effect is that the lessons help develop children’s literacy skills. “At the end of the lesson, they have a chance to taste the food - and the majority do. There are two golden rules – no-one has to like or try anything. They are asked to write a sentence about why they like or don’t like something. Sentences are rich and full of similes. For example, a tomato is red and round like a planet. Cut it open and it looks like a brain or boiling hot lava,” she says.

There is a series of five lessons working through the various senses.

Initially, Ruth Platt, educational consultant, visited schools giving face-to-face training. Since then TastEd have created videos to reach schools nationwide which are accessible by registering on the TastEd web site.

Funded by grants and donations, the TastEd lessons are free and designed to tick boxes that already exist in the curriculum.

Bee’s advice for school caterers is for the chef or manager to deliver the TastEd lessons. “If they have the support of the head teacher, they can deliver the lessons as they are straight-forward even though they are designed for classroom teachers. A few schools have done this.”

TastEd lessons are based on the ‘Sapere’ method, which has been used with great success in many European countries. “It’s basically learning about food through play.

It’s so exciting teaching children about food in a way that’s sensory, fun and joyous,” says Bee.

To register for the program and for more information, visit www.tasteeducation.com