The Kitchen Garden Pilot Program tackles the rising trend of childhood obesity by giving children hands-on experience in healthy eating.

In Victoria, schoolchildren across Years 3 to 6 spend a minimum of 40 minutes a week in an extensive vegetable garden, which they have helped design, build and maintain on the school grounds according to organic gardening principles.

The project has been such a success that it will now be introduced to schools Australia-wide.

Under the new government scheme 190 schools nationally will be provided a grant of up to $60,000 to put the pilot project in place. This will require the development of a vegetable garden, building kitchen facilities and integrating the program into the school curriculum. The government will fund the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation to establish the Kitchen Garden Pilot Program, train teachers and staff and oversee the administration of the program.

The initiative aims to work collaboratively with the States to integrate the program into their curriculum.

“We have seen in the Victorian program that getting the kitchen infrastructure in place is the part of the program that schools struggle with most,” said Stephanie Alexander, one of Australia’s most highly regarded food writers. Author of eleven books, primarily aimed at the gourmet foodie market, her signature publication, The Cook’s Companion, has established itself as the kitchen bible in nearly 400,000 homes.

“The current pilot schools have transformed the way that students think about food – before the kitchen garden, one of the students said to me ‘I thought tomatoes came from the shops’”.

“The aim of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program is for children to gain first-hand appreciation of growing, cooking and eating healthy food. It is anticipated that the program will broaden their horizons of fruit and vegetables and provide a life-long appreciation of healthy eating,” she said.

For more information visit
www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au

Christine Paul


Why The Need?
The Kitchen Garden aims to help in reversing current trends of obesity in schoolchildren through encouraging the enjoyment of cultivation of fruit and vegetables in the garden to its production in the kitchen. Facts supporting this need include:

• One of the most prevalent child health issues today is obesity.

• Of the 30,000 television advertisements children watch on average a year, 12,000 are for food. 75- 80% of those foods advertised have marginal or low nutritional value.

• Around 30% of Australian children are currently estimated to be overweight or obese. The two major contributors to this problem are poor dietary habits and inadequate levels of physical activity. Children’s fruit and vegetable consumption has decreased over the past 20 years while consumption of energy-dense foods (including sweet soft- drinks and snack bars with a high sugar content) has increased.

• Children’s physically active time has also decreased, while time spent in sedentary activities has increased.

• Obesity is a precursor to heart disease, respiratory problems, diabetes, joint and kidney problems and other chronic illnesses.

• Changing family structures and other lifestyle changes result in fewer families eating together on a regular basis.

Meals are being prepared at different times leading to the use of snack and convenience foods. Solitary eating also has significant implications for social development.

Sources: NSW Department Health, National Heart Foundation, Medical Journal of Australia 2003.

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