How much do they know?

by Carie Moore

This week, I asked my soon-to-be 7-year-old son the 12 food-related questions. He’s a first grader in a small, rural school. He lives with us on the farm and has been in 4-H for two years. He loves pizza, egg sandwiches, and ham. His class is one I visit every month and have for a couple of years. He seemed to know more than I thought he would, and much of it is related to my school lessons and activities. He gets more hands-on ag learning and is definitely paying attention to the curriculum.

1. What is a food label? The name of it, what it is.
2. Is there a difference between a food label and nutrition fact? Yes. The facts tell you how much and that kind of stuff-what it has in it
3. What makes something “nutritious?” If it has protein and if it has nutritious ingredients.
4. If you are skinny does that mean you are healthy/fit? Yes.
5. Are you worried about anything when it comes to your food? Oh yes! Beans! “Bees?” (because I incorporate bees/pollinators into many of the lessons I teach) No Mom, BEANS. “Oh ok, why are you worried about beans?” Um...’cause they make you have the poops. (insert hysterical laughing) “Well bud if that’s all you worry about when it comes to the food you eat, we’re doing pretty good!”
6. Where does food come from? Ham and ribs come from pigs, chicken comes from a chicken, turkey comes from a turkey, you know.
7. Do farmers take care of their animals-generally speaking? Why or why not? Yes – they wouldn’t be healthy if they didn’t.
8. What is a GMO? I don’t know.
9. What does “organic” mean? I don’t know.
10. What’s “CRISPR”? More tender.
11. Is Almond Milk really “milk?” No. They crush up the almonds into milk, like apples to apple juice.
12. Do farmers and ranchers need agronomists and veterinarians? Yes – they take care of the crops and animals.

Ok, so this little guy is smart about food, and a character. You never know what might come out. He surprised me on a lot of things. We just talked about labels and nutrition in September so that stuck. The beans, I honestly don’t know where that came from. We make a lot of chili, but we don’t talk about beans? His CRISPR answer threw me a bit until I realized he meant cooking as in, “I like my bacon crisper.”

This was a fun experiment and I asked all my children, individually, without the others anywhere in hearing distance. I wanted their answers to be true and unique.

I would love to hear your comments if you do this with your children. Hopefully, this holiday season we can take the time and sneak in a little learning and facts when baking cookies and bars – and with our roast beasts, or I mean Christmas feasts – and the ingredients we use, where they come from, and how they are made.

When you shop this holiday season, for food or presents, remember all the hard work many families have put into the products you buy. From beginning to end-product, the next generation is well on their way to producing for ag or purchasing from ag. It’s up to us to help them make sound decisions based on knowledge about it and who they receive it from.

“Maybe Christmas,” the Grinch thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.”

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