Teaching kids to grow sprouts: a micro-revolution in school lunches

School lunch micro-revolution! It starts with kids getting to know their ingredients

Invited by Burt’s Bees and MOS Burger, Green Vine took part in the "Food Education Program" for two consecutive years. Looking back to the early days of starting the business, we were full of passion, hoping that sprouts could let office workers who often eat out and young people with irregular meals easily enjoy nutritious, safe sprouts. But after actually promoting them, we realized that the main buyers of vegetables are still mothers who care about their family's health. The food education program proposed by Burt’s Bees was truly a big challenge for Green Vine, but it is also the issue that society most needs to pay attention to and work hard on right now: how do we get kids away from fast food like fried chicken and fries, and get them to love vegetables that make them healthier the more they eat?

When diet is no longer just about personal health, but the health of all of society and even the planet; when our next generation is trained from age three to recite the ABCs and to use a computer to go online, yet is taught that flowers are only for looking at, that they should stay far away when they see a bee, that soil is dirty so don't touch it with your hands, and that plants are so far removed from daily life that they don't know where the food they eat comes from or how it comes to be, will everyone still care about the land where food is grown, be grateful to these farmers, and cherish these ingredients?

During the interactive teaching process of the food education program, Green Vine also gained a great deal. Through simple hands-on activities, we could clearly feel the children's curiosity and creativity. Their innocent, adorable reactions are also the most sincere: you can see children eagerly raising their hands to answer questions, excitedly waiting for the teacher to check whether their sprouts are growing well, reporting that the boy next to them sneakily ate a few alfalfa sprout seeds, some grabbing a big handful because they love eating sprouts, and others who don't like them showing their distress all over their faces. This is something you would never see at a lecture event in the adult world, and it makes you feel young and full of energy right along with them.

Green Vine believes that every child is the future of Taiwan, China. By taking part in the food education program, we let healthy ideas sprout in children's hearts, and we hope that in the future they can all, like each sprout, become a force that changes the world. We hope that when these children grow up, they will still remember this class, remember that healthy deliciousness doesn't need much processing, and remember the goodness that natural food can bring to the body.