The menu so far has been pretty meat-centric–although the actual portions of meat are quite small, and surrounded by vegetables, legumes and grains–but Sosna says they’re looking at “menu 2.0” for next year with more vegetarian options because some participants have been vegetarian. Plus, Sosna adds, there’s a bonus: cooking vegetarian meals can be cheaper.
MicroGreens is running a program in three schools this semester–two in D.C. and one in Brooklyn, New York–and has been in a total of seven schools since launching in 2012. A cooking competition is held during the last week of each class and once the students “graduate,” they leave with a certificate, recipe binders, a cutting board, and crock-pot.
Sosna says the program has been a hit with the kids so far. “We’ve gotten a lot of kids who go home and cook with their families,” she says, adding that they even hear from some adults wanting to join the classes.
Wood recalls the mother who loved the soup, but says he’s heard similar experiences from other students.
Even better, he’s noticed kids applying what they’ve learned about nutrition to the food choices they make throughout the week. One girl, he says, announced in class one day that she was eating more greens because she’d learned they were a good source of calcium, which she said is important because she doesn’t like milk.
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