Food Literacy Toolkit
Welcome to the Food Literacy Toolkit, created in collaboration with Dietitians in Public Health. This toolkit will act as a road map for connecting learning to your SNP!
Student Nutrition Programs (SNP) aim to make nutrient rich foods available to all students, with a focus on fresh vegetables and fruits. The combination of the availability of fresh produce and knowledge about why these items are part of a balanced diet is important to making healthy choices.
Food Literacy is:
- Knowing about food
- Having food skills
- Feeling confident about food when choosing, preparing and eating
- Making food decisions
- Strongest when you have a supportive food environment, food system, living situation and culture and traditions!
Foodland Ontario’s Produce Availability Guide can be found here and referenced each week!
Week
Food Fact Sheet
Jokes/ Riddles
Extras
Week 1:
Cucumbers
Where do cucumbers go for a date?
Answer: The salad bar!
How do cucumbers become pickles?
Answer: They go through a ‘jarring’ experience
Video: Cucumbers: How do they grow? (7.45 min)
Foodland Ontario: Cucumbers
Week 2:
Tomatoes
What did the Papa tomato say to the Baby tomato?
Answer: Hurry and Ketchup!
What is a tomato’s favourite kind of dance?
Answer: the salsa!
Video: Leamington Greenhouse Tomatoes (3.04 min)
Foodland Ontario: Tomatoes
ODPH Paint Your Plate: Tomatoes
Week 3:
Peppers
How do you wake up a sleeping pepper?
Answer: You ring its ‘bell’!
What do you call a pizza with only peppers on it?
Answer: a pepper-only pizza!
Video: Growing Bell Peppers (1.53 min)
Recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (page 7)
Foodland Ontario: Peppers
ODPH Paint Your Plate: Peppers
Week 4:
Pears
I am a fruit who sounds like there might be two of me, at Christmas time partridge birds sit in me. What am I?
Week 5:
Apples
When is an apple grouchy?
Answer: When its a crab apple!
What kind of apple isn’t an apple?
Answer: a pineapple
What do you call two apples next to each other?
Answer: a pear
Video: The Ontario Apple Industry at a Glance (3.14 min)
The Coalition for Healthy School Food Great Big Crunch Toolkit
Recipe: Apple Bar (page 23)
Foodland Ontario: Apples
ODPH Paint Your Plate: Apples
Week 6:
Cauliflower
What do you call a dinosaur who only eats kale, broccoli, and cauliflower?
Answer: A cruciferous rex!
What kind of flower should never be put in a vase
Answer: a cauliflower!
Video: Cauliflower: How Does it Grow? (4.02 min)
10 Tips to Get Kids to Try New Foods
Foodland Ontario: Cauliflower
Week 7:
Broccoli
What do you get when you cross a broccoli with a vampire?
Answer: Count Broccula!
Video: How does broccoli grow? (2.24 min)
Tips for Washing Vegetables and Fruits
Foodland Ontario: Broccoli
Week 8:
Celery
What did the lettuce say to the celery when the celery got engaged?
Answer: ‘Lettuce Celery-brate’!
Week 9:
Red Grapes
I’m round but I’m not a ball, I’m fruit but I’m not a grapefruit, I can be seedless but I’m not an orange, I can be red or green but I’m not an apple, I come in a bunch but I’m not a banana. What am I?
Video: Grapes are Superheroes and How to Grow Grapes (39 sec, and 1.43 min)
Foodland Ontario: Grapes
ODPH Paint your Plate: Grapes
Week 10:
Sugar Snap Peas
What do vegetables wish for more than anything else in the whole world?
Answer: Peas (peace) on earth
Video: Cooking Sugar Snap Peas (2.10 min)
ODPH Paint your Plate: Fresh and Raw Veggies to Crunch
Week 11:
Carrots
I’m sometimes a baby but I don’t cry, I can be a type of cake but I’m not chocolate, I’m a vegetable but I’m not broccoli, I can be peeled but I’m not a potato, I’m orange but I’m not an orange, I’m found on a snowman but I’m not a scarf. What am I?
Video: Crop Origin Stories: Carrots (2.35 min)
Recipe: Zucchini Carrot Muffins (page 17)
Foodland Ontario: Carrots
ODPH Paint your Plate: Carrots
Week 12:
Clementines
I grow on trees but am not a leaf, I’m spherical but am not a soccer ball, I provide juice but am not an apple, I’m sometimes naval but am not a sailor, I’m coloured but am not read. What am I?
Video: How do Clementines Grow?(3.39 min)
How to Promote Healthy Eating Habits at School
ODPH Paint your Plate: Clementines
Week 13:
Pineapple
I have hard skin but I’m not a rhinoceros, I’m sometimes cut into rings but I’m not a tree, I’m yellow on the inside but I’m not a mango, I’m a fruit but I’m not a banana, I’m a topping on a Hawaiian pizza but I’m not ham. What am I?
Video: Growing Pineapples (4.38 min)
ODPH Paint your Plate: Pineapple
Week 14:
Banana
I am a fruit that you might eat at lunch, when there is a group of me we are known as a bunch. What am I?
Week 15:
Eggs
I can be decorated but I’m not a house, I can be boiled but I’m not a kettle, I have a shell but I’m not a crab, I can be cracked but I’m not a joke, I come from a chicken but I’m not a nugget. What am I?
Video: The Journey of an Egg (9.16 min)
Recipe: Egg Opener Breakfast Cups (page 31)
Week 16:
Watermelon
There was a green house and inside the green house there was a white house, inside the white house there was a red house, inside the red house there were lots of seeds. What am I?
Video: How Watermelons Grow in Canada (1.32 min)
Recipe: Fruit Salad (page 9)
Week 17:
Whole Grains
I normally grow in fields, i’m a grain from what I hear. I can be eaten piece by piece, or straight from a long ear. What am I?
Video: What Whole Grains do for your Body (1.29 min)
Recipe: Bannock (page 25)
Week 18:
Plums
Q:Which fruit wears a tutu? A: The Sugar Plum Fairy!
Video: How to grow, care, and harvest plum trees in your backyard (3.58 min)
Video: Prunes through the seasons (1.27 min)
Week 19:
Strawberries
Q: What do you call a sad strawberry? A: A blueberry
Video: Ontario Strawberries (2.48 min)
Foodland Ontario: Strawberries
Week 20:
Milk
Q: What did mama cow say to baby cow? A: It’s pasture bedtime
Q: How do you make a milkshake? A: Give a cow a pogo stick!
Video: How 100% Canadian Milk Gets From Farm to Table (3.30 min)
Dairy Famers of Canada’s Registered Dietitians: Activity
Week 21:
Cheese
Q: What does cheese say to itself in the mirror? A: Looking Gouda!
Video: The miracle of milk: Cheese Making by Dairy Farmers of Ontario (1.26 min)
Dietitians of Canada: All About Cheese
Week 22:
Blueberries
Q. What do you call it when a group of blueberries play jazz music?A. A jam session.
Q: How do you make a blueberry shake?A: Put it in the freezer.
Video: Explaining Ontario Blueberries (2.33 min)
Week 23:
The Three Sisters
Week 24:
Food Waste
Stop Food Waste Day is April 24!
Week 25:
Pulses
Q: What is a poet’s favorite legume?
A: Rhyma-beans!