Real Food For Real Kids are 'Building Body Detectives'

Real Food for Real Kids( RFRK) is a Toronto based organization whose primary goal is to  improve children’s health, eating habits and their understanding of nutrition.

Driven by the demand of concerned parents and visionary teachers, the Real Food team developed a delicious, healthy snack and hot lunch program for daycares. Today RFRK serves over 2800 children healthy, natural & organic snacks and hot lunches in 60+ daycares and schools in the GTA.
While serving healthy, natural food to children is important, in order for healthy eating to take hold it was necessary to develop a sustainable approach to food education.

School administrators and daycare directors agree that nutrition is a priority, but one that is difficult to integrate into their current programming and budgets.  RFRK recognized these limitations and has partnered with several organizations including The  The Carrot Cache & Big Carrot, The Ontario Natural Food Coop (ONFC) , Les Dames d'Escoffier, The Centre for Social Innovation  to offer a non-profit Real Food Education Program to their entire community of parents, teachers and children. Hope Paterson, RFRK’s Director of Education manages this comprehensive Food and Nutrition Education Program.

RFRK has become an “Educaterer” and a leader in their field.

To learn more about what we have been doing please contact Hope Paterson - hope@rfrk.com

During the past two years the Real Food Education Program has reached over 6000 people in the GTA. RFRK’s Education Team includes highly trained and passionate people as well as youth volunteers. Our volunteer team is provided with opportunities to build leadership skills by working directly with children and food.

The goal of the Real Food Education Program is to empower children, youth, teachers and parents to become active and responsible participants in the whole life cycle of food.

RFRK provides parents and teachers with the resources and support they need to make healthier choices for their children and families.

It can be overwhelming to change foods and lifestyles. RFRK realized that part of their education program had to be a community support program. The Real Food Education Program includes telephone counseling, expert-led seminars and hands-on interactive workshops. RFRK provides parents with essential food and nutrition tools including how to make good food choices, addressing children’s various eating patterns to allergy information. With seminar topics such as “Edible Ecosystems”, “Detox Daycares” and “Informed Buying” parents, teachers and children are learning essential life skills.

By supporting both teachers and caregivers RFRK is able to start integrating food and nutrition resources into the daily curriculum of daycares and schools.

The Real Food Education Program recognizes the current challenges  (lack of relevant teaching materials, training and funding) facing schools and daycares in the GTA. The Real Food Education Program seeks to address some of these challenges through the “Education Lending Library”, providing teachers, caregivers, parents and kids with nutrition and food-related resources, such as picture books, cookbooks, reference books, newspaper and magazine articles, as well as hard-copies of pertinent and reliable food and nutrition information available online.

RFRK connects local food to schools & daycares; both in terms of produce and farm trips for kids and teachers.

RFRK has continued to bridge the gap between the food, kids and the environment. This has included trips to local organic farms, where kids are taught to make the connection between the labour of the farmers, the soil, the sun and the resulting food that ends up in their tummies. RFRK and The Real Food Education Program’s goal is to involve all children in the different aspects of food production by enlivening their senses, teaching them awareness and appreciation for community and their impact upon their environment.

RFRK Real Food Education Program runs hands-on cooking workshops for Children ages 2yrs to 15 yrs.

The Real Food Education Program team of educators and volunteers goes into the classrooms and works directly with kids.  These dynamic workshops excite and empower kids into making their own healthy connections to food.  This hands-on approach to food education and cooking helps kids develop self-esteem, motor skills, learn important practical math skills and express their creativity. Each session includes stories, games, songs, tasting, smelling and of course cooking and eating.

RFRK’s natural & organic catering and the Real Food Education Program initiative is leading a movement of parents, teachers, doctors and nutritionists all focused on one goal – helping to prevent food and lifestyle related diseases such as children’s obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Two-time Excellence Winners of the Toronto Green Award in the Health category, RFRK Real Food Education Program believes every child must have access to whole, nutritious, unprocessed food and be educated as to why this is essential.

For more information about Real Food for Real Kids healthy catering and Real Food Education Program, visit www.rfrk.com or call 416-410-KIDS (5437).

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