Food Literacy

Imagine students totally engaged in hands on math activities where they calculate the number of seeds on a kale plant that they watched grow, flower and go to seed. Over the period of a few afternoons, without even realizing it, students were learning big ideas of how data can be collected, organized and displayed in order to address questions that emerged from time in the school garden. Their class regularly went to the garden to harvest kale for the weekly salad bar. The salad bar incorporates local produce from a number of local farmers and is supported by parents and students from a culinary arts program at a nearby secondary school. The creation of a school garden and weekly salad bar program was supported by the whole school community as part of a whole school food policy. This policy was developed by students, teachers, administrators and staff, and parents to go beyond the requirements outlined in the Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools to try to create a culture of food literate students.

Food literacy is knowledge, attitudes and skills about food. This includes understanding the connections between food, health and wellbeing; knowing how to select nutritious foods; and understanding what constitutes a healthy diet. Food literacy is about healthy eating, but food is also connected to competencies and concepts in the Physical and Health Education curriculum as well as other curriculum areas.