SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - The cafeteria at Van Asselt Elementary School is alive with anticipation as first graders settle in their seats and get ready to participate in the nutrition education program called Mission: Delicious. A sea of hands are raised to answer questions about how hidden treasures in foods, such as Vitamin C, help heal scrapes and bruises, how fiber helps our bodies "clean house", and how the variety of whole grains displayed are cooked into different bread products around the world.
"The Mission: Delicious program is designed to encourage young children to learn basic nutrition concepts, try new foods and enjoy healthy foods that taste great," explained Janis Harsila, Project Development Coordinator for the Seattle Nutrition Action Consortium. "The students are enthusiastic participants in the program and enjoy learning about nutrition and we make it fun for them."
Community members that include a nutritionist, chef, health educator, and a paraprofessional give two twenty-minute presentations on food and nutrition at two different stations; class members rotate between them. The students prepare their own healthy snack at each station. Fruit Jumble is a favorite and includes an array of chopped fruit topped with Jumble Juice, made with yogurt and orange juice. Students also enjoy preparing their own Pita Packages made with pita bread, seasoned black beans, chopped vegetables, grated cheese, salsa and a drizzle of ranch dressing. "Can I have seconds"? is the most enthusiastic and common question asked during Mission: Delicious presentations.
Students from selected kindergarten through third grade classes in the Seattle Public Schools are participants in the popular and innovative Mission: Delicious nutrition education program. The nutrition lessons are presented in entertaining ways by educators from a variety of community programs and are backed up with activities by teachers in classroom settings and with take-home materials. Books, posters and Beanie Baby characters, such as Blammo Banana and Outrageous Orange, capture the students' attention and reinforce curriculum messages during classroom activities.
Mission: Delicious is a program of the Seattle Nutrition Action Consortium (SNAC). Staff from SNAC, Neighborhood House and Share our Strength/Operation Frontline, Seattle School District personnel and volunteers that include a local chef collaborate in an effort to teach nutrition concepts and easy food preparation skills to students in the Seattle Public School District.
The Mission: Delicious program is partially funded by the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program and Public Health - Seattle & King County. SNAC's mission is to improve the health and nutritional well being of limited income families with children in the Greater Seattle Area. SNAC promotes the good taste of healthy food and encourages families to eat meals together. SNAC runs two other community nutrition education programs, Taste & Health in community sites, such as food stamp offices, shelters, parent groups and WIC clinics. You're the Cook! is a middle school-based program in health classes that teaches nutrition, food and kitchen safety and includes students in food preparation.
