Over 400 children will learn about food education

‘400 schoolchildren and 150 families from 10 early childhood education centres will benefit from various food education activities run by Justicia Alimentaria during the 2024/25 school year’

The project ‘Healthy and sustainable nursery schools’, focused on promoting the transition towards a healthy, fair and sustainable food model, will be supported by Menorca Preservation for this school year’s activities.

Justicia Alimentaria, with the support of the non-profit Menorca Preservation Foundation, is launching more actions to accompany teaching staff, workshops with families and the development of school gardens as pedagogical tools in 10 nursery schools in Menorca during the 2024-2025 school year. The aim of the programme is to contribute to increasing the critical awareness of the eating habits of more than 400 children and more than 150 families, offering tools and resources to promote healthier, more sustainable and fairer food.

The initiative, which has been running since 2021 in Menorca, is based on three important lines of action:

1.Accompaniment for teachers: key to promoting the health and well-being of children in the centres

Justicia Alimentaria will offer support to the educators of 10 nursery schools in Menorca and continuous training to 25 educators, through didactic tools and resources on food sovereignty in the field of early childhood education. Thus, activities will be proposed to develop with the pupils, but also actions to improve the different food areas of the centre: snacks, dining room, parties, etc.

2.Experimentation and learning: the school garden as a pedagogical tool

The second line of action will focus on the dynamisation of the school garden in 9 nursery schools. These spaces will become a place of experimentation from which to learn about important issues such as seasonal products and local varieties, in order to address various contents aimed at developing the skills and values of the pupils in terms of healthy and sustainable food. At the same time, a guide will also be developed to promote biodiversity in school playgrounds.

3.Resources for families: awareness-raising and easily applicable resources

The third and final line of action focuses on raising awareness and providing support to families, facilitating tools and resources for acquiring good eating habits in the family environment through practical workshops on healthy and sustainable dinners.

Núria Sintes, Menorca Preservation: ‘At Menorca Preservation we are committed to promoting initiatives that support local produce and encourage healthy, sustainable and environmentally friendly food. This project, in collaboration with Justicia Alimentaria, is an important step to involve children, their families and teachers to continue moving towards a more conscious future in tune with our environment’.

Núria Llabrés, coordinator of Food Justice in the Balearic Islands: ‘At this educational stage, food is one of the main areas of work. This is when children learn to eat, to discover the tastes and textures of food and their environment. For this reason, we believe it is an opportunity for them to learn at a very early age about the diversity of local products, the seasonality of foodstuffs… Acquiring healthy and sustainable eating habits in childhood, as well as facilitating a good nutritional state and adequate growth, can help to consolidate an optimal relationship with both food and the territory in adulthood’.