In a recent international UNICEF study, it was found that one in three kids under 5 years old are either undernourished or overweight. In the U.S., 42% of kids ages 5 to 19 are obese.
The issues often boil down to a lack of nutrition education, which is what inspired Cincinnati-based Annie Streitmarter to start New Leaf Kitchen, a mobile community cooking nonprofit that teaches kids, regardless of income, how to cook nutritious, affordable meals.
Streitmarter’s goal, she told NPR’s “Here and Now,” is to help kids prepare “simple, easy, many times raw and vegan food that they can access easily and doesn’t cost a fortune.”
“Hopefully,” she continues, “the children will then bring those ideas and passions and recipe cards home,” she says, “and then change what the parents are spending and buying from the grocery store and what we’re demanding from the vendors and food manufacturers.”
See Soapbox's original story about New Leaf Kitchen here.
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