Over 50 million Americans have a food allergy to one or more foods (Berdanier, 2017). Approximately 1 in 25 school-aged children are diagnosed with food allergies (Sicherer, Mahr, & The Section on Allergy and Immunology, 2010), while 25% of children may not experience a reaction until later in life (Leo & Clark, 2017). A food sensitivity…

The mobile food record™ (mFR™) is a novel app that allows for the tracking of individual food waste and addresses the limitations of current methods to accurately quantify food waste. Extension educators may use data from the mFR™ to create educational initiatives for food waste prevention and education that may be implemented in settings such as…

The food experience involves much more than physical nourishment but also the practice of acquiring, preparing, and sharing food that defines the foodscape. This lesson will look at the term foodscape and describe its application to Mexican migrants developed in the thesis "Transnational Mexican Foodscapes in Colorado Springs" (Greenleaf…

This article describes an example of a decision-making in nutrition unit that was transformed when students were provided an opportunity to drive the curriculum and extend their learning beyond the classroom.

This essay proposes a pedagogy for food writing that is not dependent on decoding or interpretative practices. Instead, writers compose by juxtaposing personal writing with research around some item or issue that might seem insignificant or minor. A minor exigence--in this case, eating and cooking falafel--can be explored so that a larger…

In this article, Jaehan Bae describes one of the assignments he created for an art methods course for education majors (preK-8). In it, Bae asked preservice teachers to research the food as well as other aspects of a culture of their choice. Through this assignment, he hoped the preservice teachers would "explore art and the world through…

Nudge theory describes how indirect suggestions and positive reinforcement can influence decision-making. We used nudge theory to implement a traffic-light labeling and choice architecture (modifying product placement) intervention at Harvard University cafeterias, but found no significant change in sales. Survey and focus group data showed that…

Teaching chemistry to nonscience majors is challenging because most students come to class with negative beliefs about chemistry. Those mindsets stem from their inaccurate prior knowledge of how chemistry relates to their daily lives. To address the issues and promote students' engagement in chemistry courses, we implemented ubiquitous biodiesel…

Obesity has been increasing in all age groups worldwide for the past several decades. Yet for hundreds of years before the last quarter of the 20th century, obesity was not an issue. The etiology and the cure for the obesity epidemic have been elusive. Weight reduction diets and behavior therapy have not produced the desired results. Perhaps…

First Lady Michelle Obama lauds educators for following the lead of her Let's Move! program and taking action to curtail childhood obesity. The battle to make children healthier is being waged on a number of fronts by food companies, restaurants and schools. Progress has been made, she says, but more is needed.

The U.S. Congress has passed a measure that would scrap the Child Nutrition Act's requirements and funding for more healthy lunches in schools. Unfortunately, foods of lower nutritional value are more available than healthier snacks in the nation's schools. The author argues that providing students with more fresh fruit and produce, whole grains…

The purpose of our article is twofold. First, we introduce a framework for U.S. Extension educators to measure the extent of food access at any scale when information about food carried by retailers is limited. Second, we create a baseline for the Ohio Food Policy Council so that work to increase food access in rural areas will have a benchmark to…

Is there anything that screams "College!" more than the local pizza joint? As a high school college counselor, the author has been on too many campus tours and sat in on too many information sessions to keep count. Honestly, they all tend to morph together. All good colleges have passionate, engaged students immersed in learning,…

This report provides updated results from one of the most comprehensive studies of health-related policies and practices in U.S. public middle and high schools to date, which was released in August 2011. The major findings and trends presented in this report describe issues relevant to childhood obesity for four school years, from 2006-07 to…

A class of 3- to 5-year-old children in a midwestern child care center chose to study pizza restaurants as a group project. This article discusses how the project evolved, describes the three phases of the project, and provides the teachers' reflections on the project. Photos taken during the project and children's sketches are included. (Contains…