The ABCs of Breaking Bread

摘要

How do you get today's kids excited about sitting down to a balanced meal with their family instead of in front of the TV or computer with some chips? That was the ques-tion nagging at Julia Jordan, a professor of hospitality management at New York City College of Technology. Her answer: the Dinner Party Project. Jordan helped create the school-based program for fifth- through seventh-graders five years ago to teach students all about throwing the perfect dinner party. Its goal is not to turn the kids into mini Martha Stewarts. Instead, it aims to get kids involved and excited about the possibilities of sharing a meal. "We felt that youngsters had lost the connection to food," says Jordan, who founded Spoons Across America, a nonprofit organization that teaches kids about cooking and nutrition. "Part of that was because their families had lost the connection to food-in particular, the connection to sitting and having conversations at the table."