Ecoliteracy Brings Nutrition Back to the School Lunch Room

Alice Waters is a California culinary fixture. Back in 1994, she helped found a garden program at a Berkley area middle school, called the Edible Schoolyard.

The Edible Schoolyard program provides an educational connection for students to learn more about where there food comes from. They also learn about nutrition and how to make healthy choices as well as eat healthy food in the school’s lunchroom, which are grown right on campus, all of which are important tools for students to know in the growing fight against childhood obesity all over the nation.

The Center for Ecoliteracy has played an important role in developing a curriculum for children to learn more about their ecological impact and how it relates to their health and well-being. Core concepts of the program include: Networks, Nested Systems, Cycles, Flows, Development, and Dynamic Balance.

The Edible Schoolyard Program has grown exponentially from it start over a decade ago, which involved the collaborative efforts of one celebrity chef and the principal of a school. Since then, the school has built a full-time staff and the program has been replicated in schools around the country.

At the edibleschoolyard.org, you can find resources to start your own garden and ecoliteracy program at your local school.

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