Healthy School Lunches the Montessori Way
Montessori Method Teaches About Healthy Eating and the Environment
Aug 23, 2009
Have a conversation with any parent of a young child and the topic of healthy eating will invariable arise. Most people know that it is important to provide a healthy school lunch to a child, however, sorting through all of the choices and incorporating it into a family lifestyle can be daunting.
In Montessori classrooms, teachers plan nutritious snacks and food preparation activities, healthful tasting works, and wholesome cooking and baking recipes. Children in a Montessori school help to plant and harvest vegetable gardens, compost and recycle and become aware that consumption is part of a larger environment that needs to be taken care of and respected. By incorporating the Montessori philosophies of respect of nature and sense of community, a healthy school lunch can evolve from a new approach to healthy eating.
Waste Free Lunches
At many schools, children who stay for an extended or full day program bring their own lunch to school. Time crunched parents often rely on single-serving disposable packaging to make lunch assembly quick and easy. According to research conducted between 1999-2008 by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, “It has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year.”
Parents and teachers need to create awareness with children that in addition to recycling, the food choices made can make a difference. In a Montessori environment, children eat a from-home lunch on real plates with real silverware, which is washed by the children after lunch. By promoting the use of reusable containers, cloth napkins and real silverware in packed from home lunches; a child will value the idea of waste free lunches. Not only do waste-free lunches help the environment, they tend to be more healthy and less costly overall.
Hot Lunches at School
At some schools, a hot lunch is provided. It is not only an issue of providing a healthy nutritious lunch for children, but a question of how are children engaged and included in the process of creating a healthy and responsible school lunch.
Chef Ann Cooper and Lisa M. Holmes, an administrator at a Montessori school in Massachusetts, have collaborated to create Lunch Lessons in which they tackle healthy school lunch concerns by transforming ordinary school cafeterias into culinary classrooms for children. In addition to information on how to have healthful and wholesome school lunches using locally grown products, Chef Ann has practical advice on how to bring gardening and composting into a school community, free recipes and expert information on portion size, daily calorie intake and dietary requirements for children of all ages.
Slow Food
Slow Food USA is an educational not-for-profit organization that promotes the benefits of a slow food philosophy in which the enjoyment of life and the foods consumed can be achieved by slowing down, honoring the traditions of the eating together and celebrating all of the foods that grow naturally. Montessori educators, embrace this philosophy organically.
A Montessori environment is one that slows down to create a community in our classrooms in which teachers and children eat together, work together and celebrate the natural world everyday. The Slow Food Movement embraces the philosophy that “the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work, and that all people should have access to this good and clean food."
Slow Foods USA offers Garden to Table hands-on projects, as well as detailed information on how to start and fund a slow food school program.
Eating Local Foods
The most healthful food is food that is grown locally. It is fresher, tastes better and is more nutritious. Most Montessori schools have a school garden where the children plant, tend to and harvest year round, however, not every environment has the space to have a garden. Field trips with children to local markets and farms create a connection with the local community and provide the concept that food does not just appear at the grocery store. Buying local is also good for the local economy; it supports independent businesses and farmers in the community.
Another option is to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). A CSA is a way to create a relationship with a farm and to receive a weekly container of produce, fruit, flowers, milk, eggs or other farm products. Items received are determined by what is grown, ripe and ready for picking that week. Some CSA’s also offer the opportunity to come and work a day on the farm! CSA’s require a yearlong commitment to a season of produce.
Lifelong Healthy Eating Habits
Providing a healthy school lunch is a lesson that can combine the Montessori ideals of respecting the environment and being a part of a larger community. A young child who is offered healthy foods, routinely uses non-disposable products, sits down to eat and enjoy a meal, and learns the importance of eating in season local foods will grow up with healthy eating habits and a respect for the environment.
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