- Nourish Champions
Meet Erik
Over recent months, the Grow Eat Learn program has followed the developments of an awesome hydroponics school garden club. Erik is an engaged and exemplary SchoolsPlus Child and Youth Care Practitioner and has just completed a Masters of Education in Sustainability, Creativity and Innovation. Erik has made his experience and wisdom available to us all through the creation of our resource, Guide to Starting a School Garden Club. Learn more Erik’s food thoughts below.
What drew you to get involved with Nourish?
I enthusiastically signed up to collaborate with Nourish based on the fantastic work they do in our community to support educators like me who are dedicated to sustainably teaching youth about food and food systems.
What is a food story you cherish?
I recently ran an activity about educating youth to be holistic food critics by helping them understand that before they refuse to try a food item that they can score the food’s taste, smell, visual appeal, and texture and give it a score out of five. Comparing these scores with other students opened up nurturing conversations about food interests and now I receive scores on my breakfast program output; my smoothie receives a 20 out of 20 (most days).
How do you see young people helping to influence food systems today?
School food programs are relying heavily on prepackaged food items and I believe youth have the power to influence their food systems by saying no (with just cause) to these processed foods more readily. Recognizing food security is a major concern in most communities, I still believe that we need to focus on feeding youth with dignity and elevating our school food programs by providing cooked/prepared nutritious meals when capacity and infrastructure allow.
If you could wave a magic wand and have your dream come true, what would your wish be for the food landscape in Nova Scotia?
Similar to our current ‘hot lunch’ programs in elementary schools, I would love to see a provincial student breakfast program with nutritional food items and prepared/cooked morning meals that do not include pre-packaged snacks. Our youth thrive better in a learning environment when they are well fed and their minds are filled with healthy energy.
Is there anything you love to grow or cook?
I love to grow a variety of aromatic herbs in my hydroponics devices at school and use them in sensory activities to engage youth in identifying plants that we can eat and cook with. Parsley, cilantro, and basil are all popular herbs that we grow in my community space, although we are still learning to enjoy tasting them.