Earth Day, April 22, is a great opportunity to help children understand how food, from production to consumption, impacts the Earth. Understanding how food affects the world we live in will help us to waste less and eat more sustainably.
Here are a couple examples of how food impacts our environment:
We use a lot of water to produce the food we eat. For example, according to the LATimes, it requires 13 gallons of water to grow 1 orange and 18 gallons to grow 1 apple. This means if you waste fruits and veggies, you’re also wasting water.
We use 1/3 of the world’s surface to produce food, according to the WWF.
To celebrate Earth Day, we’ve created a Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding. Chia seeds are an unprocessed, whole-grain, and they are full of omega-3 fatty acids, carbohydrates, protein, fiber, antioxidant, and calcium. Another great thing about chia seeds is that they grow easily in soils that aren’t wet, so they require less water than many crops, making them a sustainable grain.
Kids can help:
Measure and pour the almond milk.
Measure and mix the chia seeds, cacao powder, and honey.
Crush the chocolate and graham crackers.
Fill jars with “soil” pudding.
Create their own patterns using the different “edible soils”.
Returning to our kitchen?