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Join the Food Revolution - get your kids eating healthy

Chef Shane Smit and the children who were part of the healthy eating workshop Picture: Supplied
Chef Shane Smit and the children who were part of the healthy eating workshop Picture: Supplied

Healthy eating has long been treated like a near impossible task.

Luckily not everyone thinks that way and  renowned chef Jaimie Oliver is amongst those. 

Oliver started his global campaign, Food Revolution, with the intention to “inspire positive change in the way children access, consume and understand food’.

Sowetan LIVE caught up with local chef, Shane Smit, after he conducted a healthy eating workshop with a group of grade three pupils. Chef Shane works for Jaimie’s Italian Restaurant in Melrose Arch.   

Smit believes whole heartedly in healthy eating for children and he believes that if it’s made fun and interactive children will willingly want to participate.  

“I think it’s about making it fun for your kid and explaining to them what they’re having. I mean it’s all perspective you just need to explain to your kid why it’s so nice because any kid in the world won’t eat steamed broccoli for instance but if you blend that broccoli up into a sauce that you camouflage with a beautiful pasta or a baked pasta then you’re hitting it on the mark,” he explained.

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He went on to explain that making the healthy eating process interactive and fun would help to keep your child’s interest.

“In our menus we give salads in a little jar and we give the salad dressing, which is yogurt, in a little bowl. Then we get the kids to mix the dressing into the jar by shaking it and just by that little interaction and kids having fun it kind of changes their perceptive of a salad.”

Smit ended off by stating that parents should do research about the effects that sugars, saturated fats and other foods that can be harmful to their children. He stressed that the parents should invest in their children’s health as well as theirs.

You can also learn how to cook healthy meals for your family by watching Jamie's Super Food Family Classics Series 1 (6 episodes)from Wednesday 28 June at 20:00 on BBC Lifestyle (DStv channel 174) 

 

 

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