Tel Aviv’s teens learn to eat what’s good — and good for them
Everybody knows that it’s close to impossible to get kids to eat what’s good for them, right? Teens in Tel Aviv are proving this isn’t necessarily the case.
Last month, the Tel Aviv innovation team (i-team) completed a pilot program, the Cafeteria Project, with Tichonet High School. Knowing that poor nutrition can be linked to difficulty in school, the i-team worked with chef Itai Farkas, an ambassador for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, to create a pop-up cafeteria that experimented with tasty approaches to helping students eat better food.
Farkas and his team tested everything from chicken curry and meatballs baked in hummus to beef and bean stew. Sometimes the meals were made-to-order. Other times food was prepared in advance and available whenever students wanted to grab a quick meal or snack.
The verdict? As one 11th grader said, “I didn’t expect too much…But this is something completely different, there’s delicious food.”
Now that the trial period has ended, the i-team is working on a cost-effective model for regularly serving students the meals they most preferred, and schools throughout the city have expressed interest in replicating the project.
