According to Kentucky Health Facts (BRFSS), 71% of Christian County residents have a BMI score placing them in either the overweight or obese categories and only 9% of Christian County residents are consuming the recommended 5 vegetables and fruits per day. In order to address these issues the Christian County Agent for Family & Consumer Sciences (FCS) teamed up with the Hopkinsville Housing Authority to bring Tasting the Alphabet to their youth summer camp program. The program was a success so it was extended throughout the school year during the youth after school program.

Each week, for 26 weeks, the FCS Agent brought a different produce for the children to explore A thru Z starting with Avocados and ending with Zucchini. The purpose of the program was extending the children’s knowledge of different types of produce as well as expanding their palate by allowing them to taste the produce of the week. The hope was that they would develop lifelong healthy eating choices. The FCS Agent covered the following questions during each lesson: What is it, fruit/vegetable? Where does it grow? When is it in season? What are the health benefits? What does it taste like?

Each week there was at least one participant who tried a food they had never tasted before. By the end of the 26 week series all of the participants had tasted multiple foods that they had never tasted before. All of the participants reported learning something new about each produce each week whether they had previously eaten the produce or not. At the conclusion of the series 100% of the participants verbally reported that they were more excited about trying new foods and were more likely to ask their parents for fruits and vegetable than before taking part in Tasting the Alphabet.