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 2018-19 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.

SUPPORT US

Over the years major support from foundations, school PTA’s, and natural food cooperatives have provided a strong funding base for Midwest Food Connection. However, we need to grow our individual donor base in order to reach more schools. If you would like to support us via in-kind donations or through volunteer work, please contact us. We welcome your assistance in reaching more children with our food education programs.

Students Reflect on Six Years of Food Education with MFC

Midwest Food Connection teaches every grade level at Northrop Urban Environmental Center. This winter, we asked Northrop 5th graders to reflect on everything they’ve learned with Midwest Food Connection over the years! Many shared the joy of discovering new foods and...

Why I Serve on the MFC Board

By Tom Vogel, Valley Natural Foods Marketing Manager I first became aware of Midwest Food Connection (MFC) when I began working at Seward Co-op, in Minneapolis, nearly 12 years ago. At the time, I was relatively new to cooperatives, but I was drawn to them because of...

An impression from our January intern, Ora

Ora Hammel, 2019 This past January, I had the incredible opportunity to work with Midwest Food Connection (MFC). Part of my internship consisted of working alongside the MFC teachers who are visiting guest teachers at many different schools within the metro area. I...

Developing a Community through Food

Long Tran, MFC Community and Family Engagement Intern Environmental Studies major at Macalester College These past few months, I have been working for Midwest Food Connection (MFC) as the Family and Community Engagement intern, which involved me in finding ways to...

Program Evaluation Internship Summary

Taylor Hanson, MFC Fall Program Evaluation Intern Sociology Major at Hamline University At Midwest Food Connection the ultimate goal is for students to retain as much knowledge as possible from our lessons with the hopes that they can apply this knowledge to their...

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.