“We can make a difference”: The Nourish Curriculum facilitates middle‐school students’ sustainable and healthy food choices (626.18)

Abstract

Nourish is an educational initiative designed to open a meaningful conversation about food and sustainability. Mixed methods of pre/post‐surveys and focus groups were used to evaluate the intervention among middle‐school students. Pre‐post changes were compared between intervention (n= 179) and control (n=390) students using independent t‐tests. Compared to control students, intervention students significantly increased farmers’ market attendance and increased their understanding of the benefits of eating locally grown food and the influence of food ads on dietary intake. Participants from three focus groups (n= 17) reported consuming more fruits and vegetables, asking parents for local food, and shopping at farmers’ markets more frequently as they perceived locally grown food as healthy, less expensive, high‐quality and fresh. Understanding the environmental impact of different food systems led them to read food labels. Upon the completion of the Nourish curriculum, middle‐school students collectively developed and implemented action projects such as teaching elementary‐school students about food systems, creating healthy meals with ingredients from farmers’ markets, and requesting healthy and local meals to be served at school. The Nourish curriculum appeared to have positive effects on individual and group actions regarding sustainable and healthy food choices.Grant Funding Source: Supported by USDA/Network for Healthy California