
I spent the winter convincing students that cabbage is the bomb. And for the most part, it worked. Students looked forward to lunch when "Warren County cabbage" was on the menu. When the season was over, I was approached and asked, "WHERE is the Warren County cabbage? I want it to come BACK!" Students expressed that they loved eating it with their friends, pouring vinegar on it, or dousing it in hot sauce.
In partnering with the local non-profit Working Landscapes who actually got the cabbage (and collards) into the schools, I was able to conduct cabbage promotion activities in the garden, classroom, and cafeterias of all elementary schools in Warren County. Though now I must respond to monikers like, "cabbage lady," and "the one with the collards," I thoroughly enjoyed being at all our schools promoting these nutritional gems in the lunch line! Our Warren County products will be back this spring and so will the cabbage lady!
Cafeteria Promotion:
Above, A cabbage promotion table sits in the cafeteria at South Warren Elementary School. As they wait in the lunch line, I ask students while pointing to a huge cabbage, "Have you seen one of these before?" "Do you KNOW how delicious it is?" "Can you guess how much it weighs?" When we finish talking about cabbage and how awesome it is, students are ready to pick it in the lunch line and eat it up at the table. A third grader who guessed the correct weight of our cabbage got to take it home. She cooked it up with her grandma and declared it, "the best ever."
Garden and Nutrition Education:
Below, Mariam Boyd 5th grader, Keyandre, harvests a whole cabbage plant from neighbor Rob's awesome garden. During Culinary Club, we brought our harvest home from this garden visit and cooked up some delicious sauteed cabbage. Students were able to relate the scrumptious cabbage they were cooking up after school to the cabbage on the lunch line.
In partnering with the local non-profit Working Landscapes who actually got the cabbage (and collards) into the schools, I was able to conduct cabbage promotion activities in the garden, classroom, and cafeterias of all elementary schools in Warren County. Though now I must respond to monikers like, "cabbage lady," and "the one with the collards," I thoroughly enjoyed being at all our schools promoting these nutritional gems in the lunch line! Our Warren County products will be back this spring and so will the cabbage lady!
Cafeteria Promotion:
Above, A cabbage promotion table sits in the cafeteria at South Warren Elementary School. As they wait in the lunch line, I ask students while pointing to a huge cabbage, "Have you seen one of these before?" "Do you KNOW how delicious it is?" "Can you guess how much it weighs?" When we finish talking about cabbage and how awesome it is, students are ready to pick it in the lunch line and eat it up at the table. A third grader who guessed the correct weight of our cabbage got to take it home. She cooked it up with her grandma and declared it, "the best ever."
Garden and Nutrition Education:
Below, Mariam Boyd 5th grader, Keyandre, harvests a whole cabbage plant from neighbor Rob's awesome garden. During Culinary Club, we brought our harvest home from this garden visit and cooked up some delicious sauteed cabbage. Students were able to relate the scrumptious cabbage they were cooking up after school to the cabbage on the lunch line.