The salad bar cheerleader

by Catarina Rivera

I am the cafeteria salad bar cheerleader. “You want some peppers with that? Want to try some celery today? Come on down!”

I believe that children need to be educated in a positive way about good nutrition and eating healthy. In my experience, they are open to trying new foods when they are involved in the process. Children are more open and easy to reach than adults in many ways.

I’m on lunch duty at my charter school, serving salad to my first grade scholars. The line grows longer by the second. At least half of my students are regulars at the salad bar.

This week, I am on pepper promotion patrol. I want all my students to try the sliced red and green papers stacked in the back of the salad bar. Sometimes I plop them on the tray even if they haven’t asked for them and cheer, “Just try it!”

I have also tried to infuse healthy messages throughout my classroom. Our tables are named after vegetables: peppers, peas, carrots, and radishes. The bright pictures float in the air and the students have heard the names of these vegetables repeated at least 1,400 times this year. I hope subliminal messages work in this case!

One scholar gets salad every day, but his mom packs him a bag with chips, sugary juice, or Ensure every day. One of the main ingredients in Ensure is sugar. He sometimes doesn’t get around to eating the salad in time because he is too busy getting his salty crunch on. That got me thinking about competition. Fresh produce has to compete with processed foods that overwhelm the taste buds with intense sugary or salty flavors. Even as adults, it can be hard for someone to choose a fruit or a vegetable over a processed item with an attractive wrapper and an enticing sugary/salty intensity.

Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign announced an initiative in November 2010 called Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools. They aim to introduce at least 6,000 new salad bars in schools over the next three years. I think this is a great idea and one of the easiest ways to improve school food without getting into a political mess with the powerful food industry. At my school, we are fortunate to have access to a well-stocked salad bar already.

Many people believe good nutrition starts in the home. I think the foundation does begin at home but children can also be shaped by knowledge gained at school, as well as other places. However, for the greatest impact on a child’s health, educational efforts in school should be coordinated with home efforts or dietary changes.

I do my small part. Yesterday, I heard a scholar shout, “Ms. Rivera, I like peppers! They’re good!” And I looked at her and cheered, celebrating my small victory on pepper promotion patrol.

To learn more about Catarina, visit her website.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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