From Our Team

Nutrition Month spotlights the role of food in our lives, promoting healthier choices and building better eating habits.

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Jana Renner

Nutrition Month is about understanding nutritious food’s vital role in our health and well-being. Through a grant from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s Healthy Eating Initiative, Desert Spoon is doing just that through Taster Space. In this food explorer program, children 5-11 years of age explore a different fruit or vegetable each week through hands-on activities and recipes to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and create home environments that promote healthy eating.

“Taster Space is essential for the PdN community because it focuses on building healthy food preferences, fostering a foundation for lifelong well-being,” said Adriana Clowe, Desert Spoon Director of Operations. “By educating parents and caregivers about nutrition through interactive and playful methods, the program encourages children to develop positive associations with nutritious foods.”

Taster Space is a 12-week program with nine food-specific recipes and craft projects to guide families through the food frontier. Participating in Taster Space promises fun-filled moments and valuable experiences that will nurture and strengthen a family’s relationship with food.

Through these engaging activities, their program turns the discovery and appreciation of nutritious foods into a fun and lasting family adventure.

One of the most important factors regarding a child’s dietary intake and the development of obesity is the home environment. Studies indicate that food availability in environments determines the food a child will or will not eat. However, food availability alone may not be adequate to influence children’s eating behaviors, and additional interventions are needed, such as food education.

The continued growth of the Taster Space program addresses the need for increased food education hours in an evidence-based model to assist parents and providers in facilitating a healthy food environment to increase acceptance and consumption of fruits and vegetables.

“Taster Space is provided through a Pay-What-You-Can sliding scale payment model to support our goal to ensure that everyone in the community has fair and equal access to this program. Parents can visit www.tasterspace.org to learn more and enroll,” Clowe said.

Desert Spoon also partners with the Boys and Girls Club to provide food explorer activities after school and with the Paso del Norte Children’s Development Center to provide these activities to families with children with feeding disorders.

“Taster Space has provided unique opportunities to children who need it most,” Evelyn Corral, Boys and Girls Clubs of El Paso Director of Field Operations, stated. “Nutritious options have been made possible, like healthy desserts and ways to sweeten naturally; many of our kids didn’t know carrots could come in different colors and size variations, in addition to experiencing grating for the first time. Children have developed a willingness to try new foods and tool utilization. Not only did you make whole foods accessible, but delicious, informative, and fun!”

Taster Space is one of Desert Spoon’s growing programs and services, including Community Farm Boxes and a local grocery. Founded in 2015, Desert Spoon highlights the local food movement by working to ensure communities have access to fresh, healthy food at reasonable prices and farmers are paid a livable wage for their meaningful work.

For more information on additional programs funded under the Health Foundation’s Healthy Eating Initiative, contact Jana Renner, Senior Program Officer for the Health Foundation, at jrenner@pdnfoundation.org or visit pdnhf.org.

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PDNHF Priority Area: Healthy Living

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