The Nutrition Center's Food Adventures

The Nutrition Center's Food Adventures program is a hands-on cooking and nutrition education program for school-age children that TNC delivers right to the classrooms. Students work in teams under the supervision of a licensed culinary instructor and dietitian to prepare healthy foods while learning nutrition and kitchen safety, how to make balanced food choices and the value of local farms and food producers in our community. This fun and interactive program has reached students in public schools throughout Berkshire County in Western, MA. The Nutrition Center has expanded the Food Adventures offerings to afterschool programming and special summer programs as well.  Also included are ingredients and food prep tools, and healthy recipes that the students can take home to share with their families. The goal of Food Adventures is to enable students of all demographics, ages and abilities to cook their own delicious meals and snacks. Students gain skills in teamwork, language, culture, math, health, nutrition and science as they are exposed to new foods and new flavors. Each lesson plan has been specially designed to be based on MA curriculum standards and examples of topics covered include: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral--the life cycle and what the body needs; Variety--choosing from MyPlate (formerly the Food Pyramid); Reading Between the Lines--What a nutrition label really means, and many more lessons.