Somerville Students Discover Kale Chips as a Healthy Snack Option

Back at the beginning of March, we gave you a sneak peek about how Somerville planned on celebrating National Nutrition month. We focused on 5, which is 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day.

This year, one of our goals for National Nutrition Month was to expose students to healthy and delicious ways to eat their veggies. We accomplished this goal by taste testing kale chips in 6 different cafeterias.

The kale chips are a great snack because they are crunchy and a little bit salty, just like regular potato chips, but with a lot more nutritional value. Kale has tons of vitamin A, vitamin K and some calcium too!

Some students compared the taste of kale chips to the taste of other vegetables they are more familiar with, including broccoli, spinach, and lettuce.

Students were able to vote on whether they would try the kale chips again. Giving students the chance to decide whether or not they liked the chips encourages them to continue to try new foods: no one likes every kind of food.

In fact, most students did like the kale chips: 85% of the 2860 students who tried the snack would try it again. In some schools, up to 89% of students like the kale chips!

Stay tuned for our exact kale chip recipe, so you can try it at home.

Special thank you to David Heidkamp, Framingham Nutrition Intern, Meghan Bodo, Food Literacy Educator, and volunteers from Shape Up Somerville and UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program. National Nutrition Month Activities are funded through the Somerville PEP Grant and Somerville Food and Nutrition Services Department.

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