Fresh fruits, of all colors, and easy to eat. This is the bet made by the Charles Vienot school to fill empty stomachs during recess. Prepared directly by the aunts in the establishment’s snack bar, these snacks are placed in the fridge until they are tasted.
“We started from a simple observation: our society is sickasserts Teiki Dubois, director of the Charles Vienot school. We have generalized social protection that lives on a drip, and we need to change the paradigm. We wanted to be actors of this change, so we proposed to intervene on the food education of children”.
Children are offered a variety of fruits full of colors, vitamins, fiber and antioxidants. The objective behind is precisely to fight once morest obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
When the bell rings, the snack is quickly taken by storm. If children are sometimes tempted by dairy products or industrial snacks, the fruit cups do not stay on the display for long. A real success according to Teiki: “We don’t just have fruit, we also have other products. On all other products, we do a calorie control, to be sure to offer something that meets their need and not their desire. Against all expectations, it is the fruits that leave first. I think that the parents also support this project, and no doubt have an encouraging speech”.
The containers are ramekins, which are then recovered. All children know where to put their ramekin, which once washed, is ready to be used once more. The aunties assemble the product so that there is only one thing left to do: enjoy. The school chooses ramekins so as not to contribute to the production of plastic waste.
An initiative that has become a team project: the teaching staff quickly realized the multiple advantages. This is the case of Marion Caron, teacher in CM2: “I have children who don’t eat in the morning. Having fruit allows them to be boosted, to have energy. With the minerals and vitamins in the fruits, it really helps to have a student who is awake and who is on top”.
The proceeds from the sale of these snacks are used to finance school projects. The establishment hopes to help encourage local producers.
