L'IIN e l'IIKG è pienamente consapevole dell'importanza di una dieta sana e di una buona educazione alimentare, cioe’ un approccio equilibrato al cibo, una dieta sana, la consapevolezza degli sprechi e del basso impatto ambientale ed il piacere di mangiare insieme.

 

Il menu alimentare segue le linee guida dello Health Department di Hong Kong. Il fornitore della scuola è approvato dall'Education Bureau ed è stato selezionato dalla tramite una gara. Viene applicato il principio "rapporto 3: 2: 1" per cereali, verdure e carne. Le merende includono frutta fresca e succhi, latte magro, cereali, pane e uova.

 

The Languages of Food

Lunch Project at the IIN&KG

The Italian International Nursery and Kindergarten (IIN&KG) promotes nutritional well-being and gustatory education for the children.

Italy and China have both a rich, diverse and deeply rooted culinary tradition. Italy is also the cradle of the “Mediterranean diet” – intangible cultural heritage according to UNESCO – and, in the educational project of the Reggio Emilia Approach, food is an emotional and relational language as well as an opportunity for new cognitive learnings through the senses, for instance in multisensory and educational activities in the cooking workshops.

Objectives

First, the lunch project is conceived to equip children with the care and development of personal autonomy at the table. Knowing how to do what is necessary to meet one's own needs is a source of security and self-esteem for the child.

Second, the lunch project provides new opportunities for important learnings. Small duties that children perform together with pleasure, make them feel grown up and encourage geometric learning (a certain arrangement of dishes on the table) and mathematics (a plate, a glass, a fork and a spoon for each child), essential for building, for example, the ability to count.

Third, the closeness of friends makes a time spent sitting around a table pleasant. The children chat, exchange comments on the morning, interact with the teachers, consolidate relationships in a dimension of intimacy and conviviality. In this way, they grasp the social dimension of nutrition, which is an important cultural aspect.

Fourth, at IIN&KG, lunch varies every day. Close to friends, children more easily accept tasting unfamiliar foods. There are rules that concern everyone and which are therefore mostly respected: accepting the food of the day on your plate, trying to taste it in order to base a judgment based on experience, or finishing what you have on your plate, or putting your cutlery etc.

References:

The Languages of Food recipes, experiences, thoughts. Reggio Children S.r.l., 2008.

Fuori Dal Nido – Cento domande e mille risposte possibili per genitori e bambini che crescono. Reggio Children, Mondadori, 2023, pp.115-117.

 

Lunching with Dubla Tray (by TABLO)

The IIN&KG warmly thanks TABLO for the donation of Dubla Trays for its Lunch Project.