6 Ways to Get Kids to Eat Healthy, and Like It
The founders of L.A.’s sought-after Alma restaurant developed a popular after-school program that teaches kids about nutrition, from garden to table.
In 2013, we introduced GOOD readers to Ashleigh Parsons, the co-owner of a hip new Los Angeles restaurant who was also in charge of the establishment’s community outreach program. The eatery, Alma, went on to be named Bon Appetit’s best new restaurant that year. The outreach initiative, an after-school and weekend wellness program for Los Angeles public school students, has also been a success. Several times a month, Parsons and company teach kids, many of whom live and attend school in areas that lack access to nutritious food, about cultivating produce and cooking healthy meals. Though Parsons has a master’s degree in education, her most valuable lessons have come from interacting with her students in two high schools and one K-8 charter school in Los Angeles’ underserved Rampart neighborhood. Here are six tips she’s learned about how to get kids of any age interested in healthy food.