In the autumn of 2019, due to changes in my personal work environment, I began to get involved in food-related fields. Terms that I had never noticed before kept jumping into my field of vision.

Nutrition, organic, food safety, additives, green... Of course, this also includes food education.

Like many friends, when I heard these two words for the first time, my mind was confused.

Food education? Food education? Food safety education? Natural science? Nutrition?

Some people say that the core of food education is to teach people how to eat correctly.

What? We are a huge country with a history of five thousand years and a long history of food culture. Do we still need to be taught how to eat?

1

In order to find out more about this matter, I recently checked some information on the Internet.

The result is really unexpected.

A 2010 survey on national food education showed that:

75% of the citizens have a general understanding of food safety knowledge; 25% of the people have no knowledge of food safety. They don’t understand; there are zero citizens who know very much about food safety.

75% of citizens do not pay attention to food additives when purchasing food; only 25% of residents pay attention to the use of food additives.

A survey of more than 28,000 people on salt-related knowledge, beliefs and practices of Chinese urban residents showed that 72.7% of students eat processed foods at least once a week, and only 1% can tell which ones are high in salt. Regarding salt foods, about 1/4 of adults have never heard of low-sodium salt. (Data from "Food Education Starts from Children")

According to data released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2017, the obesity rate among Chinese people reached 12%. The obesity rate in primary and secondary schools in some areas has exceeded 20%, which means that one in every five children on campus may be chubby. The phenomenon of overweight among teenagers has become very serious.

On November 21, 2019, in a speech published by the public account Yixi on "If you eat a pack of spicy strips, your salt intake will exceed the standard for the day", the George Institute for Global Health ( Professor Zhang Puhong, deputy director of China) also released a data survey on chronic disease data in China.

Data show that with the development and continuous improvement of medical standards, the number of deaths caused by infectious diseases and infectious diseases is gradually decreasing. Chronic diseases caused by personal living habits, diet and other issues have become a major problem in China in recent years. The main cause of death.

He said: When we have no way to modify genes, there are many risk factors that can be controlled.

2

So, why does this phenomenon occur?

In the book "Food Education", the author Fujimori Heiji explains this series of phenomena: The reason why children or adults have various eating-related problems is that when they were young, they took the initiative to What is done becomes passive.

Writer Liu Yong said: "Every child is born with a kind of power, which leads him to the outside world from the moment he is born."

In our lives, People tend to think that children are just children, they don’t know anything, so they have to be taught by adults.

However, this is only for knowledge.

"Survival ability" is the ability that children already have. It is education that can well induce and improve these abilities.

As adults, we inadvertently stifle our children's "survival ability" because of our various "good for you" in our lives.

In order to satisfy our children’s tastes, we buy all kinds of snacks for them; in order to squeeze in time for children to study, we take them to eat takeout frequently, and even do not let them participate in all the little things in life.

In September 2019, Teacher Zheng from Guiyang, Guizhou found that the recycled student breakfast boxes were heavy. When he opened them, he found that the eggs in the lunch boxes were not eaten at all.

Of the 45 students in the class, only 6 students ate eggs.

School meals are delivered uniformly by meal delivery companies, and any remaining food in the lunch boxes will be disposed of as garbage.

When asked why the children don’t eat eggs, the answer is: they can’t peel them.

Eggs, very unfair.

Our children are even more unjust.

Let’s compare with life scenes:

Life: After switching to bottles to drink milk and water, parents will definitely let their children drink the amount approved by us within the specified time.

Life: This food is nutritious and very good for your body. You should eat it quickly.

Life: There is still a little bit left in this dish. Eat it all and don’t leave any leftovers. The leftovers will be wasted.

Life: The child is still so young, what can he do? Don't make any more trouble and just have fun.

Look, we are always like this. On the one hand, we blame our children for not eating well, and on the other hand, we use our own behavior to "help the evildoer".

It's not their fault, it's our problem.

3

Everyone knows eating from the moment they are born. This is our survival instinct.

But what to eat, how to eat, and how to eat can be cultivated and guided day after tomorrow.

In the book "Food Education", a view is advocated: in addition to telling children the types and nutrition of food, it is also necessary to educate children about food education behaviors from an early age. This kind of education does not come from books, but is learned in life and production.

Let children participate in the process of shopping. Amidst the constant cries in alleys and vegetable markets, and in front of the dazzling shelves of supermarkets, let children learn to distinguish the difference and quality of ingredients, and learn to buy from vendors. Bargain for things and learn to read the various labels on processed food packages.

Involve children in the process of making food, and create a space for them to learn to cook in kindergarten or at home. Younger children can participate in choosing vegetables and sharing meals, while older children can be taught simple cooking.

Make eating a ritual, tell your children to wash their hands before eating, and put a beautiful tablecloth on the table with your children, and use beautiful utensils to serve food.

The most important point is that children must be allowed to have the process experience of completing meals on their own strength.

4

Fujimori Heiji, the author of "Food Education", repeatedly uses a word in the book: guardian.

I think this word is used too well.

Compared with strong protection, although guardianship is a bit negative, it truly explains what true love for children is.

Starting from every meal, no longer force, give the child the initiative to eat.

We just need to tell our children what food is and teach them how to take food seriously.

We should believe that a person who can take food seriously must be a person who lives seriously; and a person who lives seriously must also be a person who takes good care of himself.

And this is what we really want our children to learn, and this is the ultimate meaning of food education.

References:

1. Changjiang Daily, "Food Education is an Important Family Education"

2. Huai Lihua, "my country's National Food "Research on Investigation and Improvement of Education Status"

3. Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Song Yuan "Food Education Starts from Children"

4. "Food Education" is an important family Education"

5. Duo Duodai, "If a child in the first grade of junior high school cannot peel eggs, whose fault is it? "

6. Yixi, Zhang Puhong, "Eat a pack of spicy strips, and your salt intake for the day will exceed the standard"

If you happen to have read this book

Remember to tell me what you think