White House Kitchen Garden
Posted by Janet McLaughlin on Monday, December 14, 2009
Editor’s Note: Share Our Strength’s local partner, the Capital Area food Bank, administers this Operation Frontline course which is held at Martha’s Table for children in its afterschool program. Tune in learn more about this Operation Frontline course: National Public Radio, December 21st, 7:40am and 9:40am.
“Please, can I eat some? Please, please, please?!” The nine-year-old in the blue coat was not begging for a sugary or salty treat, but for fresh spinach, growing the ground and moist from the falling rain.
On Monday, Randi and 10 of her peers from her afterschool program were in the White House Kitchen Garden, part of a special celebration of their graduation from Kids Up Front, one of Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline healthy cooking courses. Our tour guide, White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass obliged her request and 11 inner-city kids stood on the White House lawn munching fresh-picked spinach — and asking for more!
After four and half years leading Operation Frontline, I continue to be excited when kids request nutritious foods and brag about the healthy recipes that they know how to cook. I know — and our thousands of culinary and nutrition volunteers know — that Operation Frontline’s fun, hands-on, cooking-centered approach to food can change hearts, minds, and tastes. The Obama administration knows this too, and that is why they welcomed our group to the Kitchen Garden and even let us visit the White House kitchen (where the chefs were preparing stuffing for holiday parties)!
I hope that you’ve also had the chance to experience kids’ positive response to healthy foods — when they’ve seen it growing, when they’ve prepared it with their own hands, when they’ve be able to explore lots of tastes, when they know that healthy can be tasty. Try taking the time to invite kids into the kitchen to cook with you during the holidays this year, or perhaps make your New Year’s resolution to volunteer for Operation Frontline!
Ensuring that all kids in America get the healthy foods they need is a large and multi-faceted challenge and we all have a part to play — in our homes, in the community, and even in the rain and twilight on the White House lawn!
December 14, 2009 | | Tags: Cooking Matters, event, Operation Frontline, sam kass, white house
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