What kids can teach us about food

Photo credit: 826NYC

You know the feeling: the one where you really, really, really want ice cream and -- sad face -- you have none in your freezer. That’s what happened to 12-year-old Tommy Garcia before he decided to make his own.

"I went back to the kitchen and started to make the ice cream in a bowl," Garcia writes. "First, I poured milk in the bowl. Then I put Oreos and candy in it. I thought, ‘It needs water, right?’ I poured water, then soda… I put everything I could think of in the bowl; then I put it in the freezer. I said, ‘the chicken [in the freezer] will make the ice cream taste better.’"

The jury is still out on that one, but you can read this story and many more like it in the new book, “Chicken Makes the Ice Cream Taste Better: Stories on Food and Community.” The book is written by 6th and 7th graders at P.S. 7 Samuel Stern, a public middle school in East Harlem, New York. The young authors are exposed to lots of amazing food experiences thanks to Edible Schoolyard, a non-profit organization that builds garden and kitchen “classrooms” and has students participate in at least one gardening or kitchen skills lesson each month to promote healthy choices.

Take a moment today to embrace the wisdom of youth (yes, the same wisdom that pairs chicken and ice cream) and you just might be surprised at what you come up with.