Class Field Trip Introduces Students To New Healthy Foods

Can you imagine your child asking for seconds on carrots or even kale?

These seventh-graders from James A. Farley Middle School didn't think they'd like healthy food either, but they and their appetites were in for a big surprise after a class trip to the Food Evolution in Bardonia. 26 students from Melinda Parziale's Family and Consumer Science class packed into the restaurant-turned-residential kitchen of the Food Evolution.

Diane Hoch, founder and director of this new business, offers cooking classes and this was the first time she hosted a class field trip. On the menu for this class trip was a learning experience, hummus, roasted carrots, kale chips (a green leafy plant), grana padano cheese (similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano), quinoa saute (similar to couscous, a grain) and healthy chicken tenders with lemon zest.

"I loved the carrots," said Niko Rodriguez. He and many others asked for seconds and thirds on everything and by the end of the day, everything was eaten.

"I like the carrots. It's better than pizza!" said Kaitlyn Gutenberger. "and I learned that there's a plant named kale."

"I loved teh chicken because it was cooked perfectly," said Levance Jackson.

Kyle Dunnigan, who ate all his quinoa, said that it "reminds me of couscous."

Among the questions the students raised were:

• What are carbohydrates?
• Why do people become vegetarians?
• Doesn't pasta have a lot of carbs?
• Was it hard to start up this business?
• For that (quinoa) dish, how much onion do you need?
• How big is a medium onion?

The questions were flying throughout the entire trip and some questions were turned away to keep the trip under two hours. All these questions were answered easily by Hoch who is also a food nutritionist. She engaged the class by asking food questions such as:

• What's in hummus?
• What vitamins are found in carrots?
• What's a food detective?
• What's the difference between brown and white rice?

Her lecture throughout the course of the trip kept going back to practicing healthy eating habits. As the mother of three girls and a member of the Rockland Coalition for Better School Food, the Rockland Farm Alliance and the Rockland County School Health and Wellness Coalition, Hoch is very much in the forefront of kids eating whole foods.

"Look at the ingredients on things. If you can't pronounce most of the ingredients, it's probably not good for your body," she told the class. However she said it was ok to indulge from time to time in an unhealthy snack and that "everything's in moderation" reminding the students of correct portion sizes.

"You can eat everything in moderation and ou can still be full," she said.

Of course Parziale kept the class interactive by asking questions such as "What else can hummus be eaten with? The class took away a lot from this healthy trip. Every student learned something new:

"I learned that there's a lot of other substitutes to fatty foods," said Hope Kehoe.

"I learned how garlic can help your sore throat," said Darron Dormeus.

"They produce corn syrup, but it's not really healthy," said Ariela Abreu.

"She (Hoch) told us about lactose intolerance, sea salt and we learned about healthy fats," said Justin Ponciano.

"I found out why salts come in different colors and new ingredients," said Steffen Luther.

"I learned how vegetarians get their protein," said Brendan Rooney.

Each student received a packet of the recipes of everything they tried that day. Also, each packet has a nutritional glossary on the back for them to reference back to fast facts such as the nutritional values and definitions of everything used that day down to the spices themselves.

"You can see I love kids. That's why I started the Food Evolution," said Hoch. Parziale was very proud of her class that day.

"They were not just well-behaved, but inquizzitive and connected with their health, their bodies and wanting to learn," she said. "My heart is really to educate kids." Parziale was very happy she brought them and the lessons they took out of it.

Hoch is perfecting this class trip option and is offering it to all school districts at $20/child. Parziale encouraged other schools to look into doing this because of how much her class took away from this educational and delicious experience.