Vegetarian Choice for y-12 Home Ec. students

Sanitarium Nutrition Service has launched a new senior Home Economics teaching resource called Vegetarian Choice for the 2010 school year.

Vegetarian Choice is for year 12 Home Economics students who are completing a vegetarian unit as part of their NCEA assessment, and has been updated to meet new curriculum and nutrition recommendations.

The resource has been favourably reviewed by ­HETTANZ.

Sanitarium teamed up with Ann Percy, an experienced Home Economics teacher, to develop the unit which aims to celebrate plant foods and their capacity to nourish the body.

Paige Ashby, Clinical Nutritionist, Sanitarium Nutrition Service, says Sanitarium is very pleased to be launching the new Vegetarian Choice teaching resource.

“Vegetarian Choice is designed to be an inspirational way for teachers and students to explore vegetarian eating.

 “We’ve incorporated practical cooking lessons, as well some online lessons that feature videos, to make the curriculum fun and engaging for students and teachers alike.

“We hope Vegetarian Choice will help foster life-long healthy eating patterns among young people.”

Vegetarian Choice comprises of 22 lesson plans including: practical cooking lessons; classroom and online lessons; and a homework project.

They have also developed additional tools for teachers including: a Teacher’s Tool Kit containing additional information to give teachers a more in-depth overview of the topic; and an on-line Teacher’s Forum in which teachers can discuss Vegetarian Choice and vegetarian eating.

Vegetarian Choice also incorporates a Top Vegetarian Chef Secondary School Cooking Competition. The competition will be run annually for Home Economics students to find the best vegetarian chef.

Competition details are provided in the unit and on the website, with the competition being designed to align closely with the teaching and assessment of this unit, so as to minimise disruption and meet the time restraints present in the teaching programme.

Teachers can download the resource from www.vegetarianchoice.sanitarium.co.nz

To access Vegetarian Choice teachers will be asked to quote a code, which will be faxed to schools and is also available by e-mailing nutrition@sanitarium.co.nz

The Sanitarium Nutrition Service, a free community initiative to help the community experience happy, healthy lives, provides information and practical tips on vegetarian eating.