Raising awareness amongst children: Orto in Condotta

Context

Parents all over the world generally face a similar problem when it comes to getting their children to like and to eat more vegetables.


This reticence towards vegetables can be explained by various factors. Food neophobia is one of them. This term describes a fear of new and unknown foodstuffs which affects a majority of children and can even persist into adulthood. This food neophobia can concern all food groups but it is especially frequent in relation to vegetables*.


The Foundation in Italy wants to lessen this fear by explaining the principles of a balanced diet and the origin of food to children aged 6 to 14. This is what the Orto project is all about.
 

 

Resources

This project is organised over 3 years and combines theoretical knowledge with a practical approach.

The children learn the basic principles of a balanced diet thanks to presentations in schools. The approach highlights the benefits of a food group that the children tend to snub: fruit and vegetables. The children also help to plant and look after a vegetable garden.

This project launched at the beginning of the school year in 2008 has already convinced over 1500 schoolchildren.
 

 

Results

After the gardening sessions, the results indicate that 76% of the children say that they appreciate eating vegetables at mealtimes and that only 10% declare that they don’t like the taste of these foods.


This activity has also improved their knowledge of vegetables: 83% are now able to name and classify them with confidence.


Today, there are 143 of these vegetable gardens throughout Italy and 59 gardens in the rest of the world.
 

* RUSSELL, C.G., WORSLEY, A., 2008. A population-based study of preschoolers' food neophobia and its associations with food preferences. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, volume 40, n°1. p.11-19.