Making Food Fun

It all started with one event to bring local food to local families. Our first Making Food Fun event at Look Park in 2022 offered a hands-on cooking demonstration with Deanna Cook, where children made quesadillas with local tomatoes, corn, cilantro and tortillas. Located in a pavilion between the splash pad and the big playground, families stopped to taste and learn about summer berries or enjoy a strawberry-watermelon popsicle from Crooked Stick Popsicles. It was a beautiful summer day, and the event was a hit.

Eight events later, we have visited sites across Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties, and one thing we continue to hear from parents, teachers, and caregivers is that they need support teaching children to enjoy healthy food. School nutrition experts share that it takes seven attempts to introduce a new food to a child.

As CISA, our goal is to introduce families to local food at farmers’ markets, farm stands, co-ops and supermarkets. Using our senses to see, touch, smell, and taste food increases the chances that kids will try new fruits and vegetables. Kids love food they grow themselves, and some of our events have focused on planting seeds and seedlings.

Parents, teachers, and caregivers, please bookmark this page and click the link to the right to sign up for our Making Food Fun newsletter, which will go out periodically to share information on resources about food and farms for families. The link in the sidebar to the right shares events for families about local food, and there is a link to our collection of child-friendly recipes. For families who receive SNAP, there is a link to the right for more information on HIP, SNAP, and a map of where you can use those benefits.

 

If you would like to share your favorite recipe, share an event, or submit a guest column, please contact Lisa Goodrich, Making Food Fun editor.

All photos by Paul Shoul.