UT Extension agent Tiffany Thomas recently completed nutrition education classes at East Side. The fourth-grade students learned about healthy eating and living through the POWER U program, and the fifth graders completed lessons in the 5-2-1-0 program. At the end of the lessons, all classes had a “tasting party” where “Miss Tiffany” served many different fruits and vegetables to every class. Coordinated School Health assisted with the food purchasing and preparation.

Karen D. Jones, also a UT Extension agent, also helped prepare the food. Children sampled foods like bok choi, napa cabbage, zuchinni, radishes, jicama, spinach,  Asian pears, pineapple, kiwi, and mangos. Amazingly, the students tried almost all the foods they hadn’t eaten before, and even more amazing was the fact that they actually liked many of the things they ate! So, parents, if your kids come home asking you to buy food you’ve never heard of, it’s okay … you can buy it … it’s good!