The State of Obesity Organization states the combined rate for overweight and obese adolescents is 33.5% making Kentucky fall among the highest 15 states for overweight and obese children. According to the CDC, around 49.7% and 43.2% of adolescents in Kentucky report consuming fruits and vegetables, respectively, less than one time a day. In an effort to increase the fruit and vegetable intake of children in Mason County in hopes of decreasing the obesity rates, Mason County FCS partnered with the entire 2^ndgrade at Charles Straub Elementary School to offer a program called, Food Explorers. 

Food Explorers took place every other week over a course of 20weeks. Every time we visited the school, we would take a different fruit or vegetable to be sampled. In some cases such a spinach, chickpeas, or spaghetti squash, a recipe was made so that the students could see the different ways fruits and vegetables can be prepared. The foods that were sampled included broccoli salad (broccoli), spinach dip (spinach), hummus (chickpeas), raspberries, bell peppers, spaghetti squash (cooked with marinara sauce), okra (roasted using the Plate It Up! Kentucky Proud recipe), kiwi, mangoes, and pomegranates. The rules behind getting the students to taste it were simple – you don’t have to like it, you just have to try it. An incentive was offered to the students who tried every food that was offered. An ice cream party was rewarded to the majority of the students, and we spoke about how sweets are okay in moderation. Each classroom received a chart to hang up that listed every child’s name and pictures of the fruits and vegetables. After sampling, students placed a red star if they didn’t like it or a gold star if they did next to their name and below that food item.

As a result, 201 out of 212 (95%) tried 10 out of 10 fruits and vegetables that were sampled during Food Explorers. 49 out of 212 (23%)liked 10 out of 10 fruits and vegetables that were sampled during Food Explorers. 185 out of 212 (87%) liked at least 5 out of 10 fruits and vegetables that were sampled during Food Explorers. 211 out of 212 (99.5%)tried at least 1 new food during Food Explorers. The teachers loved the program and told the parents about it during parent teacher conferences. Each teacher requested that the program continue on next year. Some of the comments from the students included, “I didn’t think I would like that because it was green, but it was yummy!” and “I asked my mom to get me hummus to put in my lunch for school.” A parent even approached me at a separate event and asked if I was the reason her child asked for spaghetti squash at the grocery store and that she had never bought it before because she thought she wouldn’t like it, but now they eat it all the time.