INSPIRING KIDS TO EAT WELL

Midwest Food Connection is a leader in healthy youth development in the Twin Cities. We bring food education to students and their families — teaching hands-on lessons that empower youth to make healthy choices for their bodies, their communities, and the land.

Read our 2020 Annual Report to learn more!

 

  • HEALTH: We combat health problems at an early age by exciting youth about healthy eating. Through hands-on cooking, studying, and tasting fruits and vegetables, our students develop a love of real, whole, locally-grown foods.
  • ENVIRONMENT: We empower youth to take care of the earth. When growing their own food, learning about the impact of their choices on the environment, and visiting local farms, our students become good stewards of the environment. 
  • LIFE SKILLS: We equip youth with life skills such as cooking, gardening, shopping wisely, and thinking critically about food systems. Our students learn self-sufficiency and develop healthy habits that last a lifetime. 

Food connects us with each other, our planet, and ourselves. Midwest Food Connection inspires young people to deepen their relationship with food, benefiting their bodies, their communities, and the earth.

The need for children and youth to deepen their relationship to food remains, arguably even more so, in these times of pandemic and students staying home. We are adapting our programming to continue our mission while still keeping families safe. Midwest Food Connection is releasing a series of online videos made by staff to keep learning engaging and exciting as schools get situated into a digital format.

This, together with live streaming lessons with schools, makes for a continued robust educational presence. Currently we are working with 13 schools in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. If you are near or far and would like to participate, send us a note!

SUPPORT FOOD EDUCATION, CONNECTIONS + HEALTH AT HOME

Midwest Food Connection recognizes the power of relationships among food, land and one another. Food and food access are directly tied to liberation and freedom. This Fall, help us keep food education alive in the twin cities and health at home prioritized! Your donations will immediately support the dynamic virtual teaching we are leading at metro-area schools. 

A year of online food education: What we’ve learned about teaching kids virtually in a pandemic

The last time I taught an in-person class for Midwest Food Connection was March 12, 2020. I taught three first grade classes at a Minneapolis school about wheat and pasta, as the students kneaded, shaped and cooked up their own pasta dough. COVID was on all our minds,...
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Reflecting on a year of virtual food lessons

On a dreary winter morning, I log into my email to look for a Google Meets invitation that should be showing up at any minute. On this particular day, when I enter the virtual classroom, I am greeted by the smiling faces of first graders, many of them showing me the...
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MFC Reflects and Responds to the Murder of George Floyd

The unjust and senseless death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police laid bare (once again) the pervasive systemic racism that is woven into our social fabric. Midwest Food Connection stands in solidarity with BIPOC (Black ● Indigenous ● People of Color)...
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Keeping Food Education Alive Through Online Learning

It’s early May and Spring is in full swing here in Minnesota. The air is filled with birdsongs and the buzzing of pollinators, but things in the human world are undeniably quieter this year. We are now in month three of Governor Walz’s stay-at-home order with further...
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Climate Conscious Cuisine

A recent Washington Post headline* shouted: “Kids are terrified, anxious and depressed about climate change.” The article goes on to discuss the deep concerns many youth have about the world’s future, and what they can do about it.  I imagine you have seen this...
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OUR PROGRAMS

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Fall 1

Winter

Fall 2

Middle School

Spring

 

WORKING WITH YOUR SCHOOL

Please contact us to find out how Midwest Food Connection can partner with your school to bring our food and gardening curriculum to your classroom. Click the link to learn more about our programs.

Our extensive curriculum covers topics from whole grains to local produce to immigrant cuisines. We have created elementary school lessons specifically for kindergarten, primary, and intermediate grades, and offer a new middle school curriculum as well. Each lesson has been carefully polished through frequent use in a variety of classroom settings.

Midwest Food Connection has partnered with schools in the Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota area since 1994. During the school year of 2016/7, we taught in 52 schools and taught over 750 individual lessons.