On World Food Day, researchers from the ECI are hoping to share lessons learned while pulling off the notoriously difficult task of encouraging children to try new, healthy foods.
Staff from the BeanMeals project, led by Dr John Ingram, head of the ECI’s Food Systems Transformation Group, have recently completed work in six schools in Leicestershire County and Leicester City. The school-based research is part of BeanMeals’s wider investigation into how to develop systemic innovations to improve dietary health with lower environmental impact by using UK-grown beans.
Our researchers have been busy working in primary schools around Leicestershire to monitor how Year 4 and 5 children responded to new recipes containing beans,” says Dr John Ingram. “BeanMeals looks right across the supply chain but in the project we wanted to starting with the fork and go backwards to the farm.”
For BeanMeals, the ‘farm’ is Warwick Crop Centre at the University of Warwick, where researchers have been developing two varieties of quick-cooking common beans that should thrive in the UK climate. Last month, a crop of one of the beans used in BeanMeals – a blonde kidney-sized bean called Godiva – was commercially harvested for the first time.
Collaborative actions
“Getting the beans into new recipes and onto the children’s plates has been a team effort,” says Lisa Didier, BeanMeals’s engagement officer. “As well as working with school cooks, lunchtime supervisors and caterers, we partnered with Food for Life to design bean-based activities such as growing and cooking sessions. We wanted to encourage the children to feel curious and excited about trying beans when they appeared in menus.”
One of the most popular classroom activities was Beantopia, a board game created by BeanMeals consultant Joanne Craven to help the children understand the journey of the bean as well as the many benefits of eating beans. “The game was co-designed by children, which was a really important step,” says Lisa Didier. “The children loved playing the game and were happy to spend the full hour-long sessions around the Beantopia board.”
While the in-school activity has drawn to a close, BeanMeals’s wider food system research will continue until November 2024. The team is currently developing a range of curriculum resources to support teaching staff in schools. These will encourage children to make healthy food choices while also learning about the environmental benefits of eating beans and supporting local enterprises.
“Many of the teachers love the Beantopia game as much as the children and want to continue using it as part of the classroom experience,” says Lisa. “It means the game will outlive the BeanMeals project!”
Schoolchildren in Leicester playing Beantopia.
About World Food Day
World Food Day commemorates the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945. The day promotes worldwide awareness of hunger and as well as action for the future of food, people and the planet.