Simply Veg aims to bring together an alliance of nutritionists and chefs with psychologists and children’s entertainers to combine their skills to improve UK families’ diets.
Poor diet often starts in childhood and stays for life as 80% of UK children aren’t eating enough vegetables with almost a third (29%) of primary school aged pupils eating less than one portion of veg a day.
Veg Power’s latest research shows that parents who eat more veg and create a positive food culture in their home are nearly twice as likely to have children who eat more veg, try new veg and see vegetables as fun.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, one of Veg Power’s founders and special advisers, said: “If traditional public health campaigns are not having the impact necessary to help change the current eating habits in this country, we need to rethink our approach.
“Simply Veg recognises that feeding a family is hard work, with parents facing many challenges including the cost of food and a fear of rejection and waste, particularly when trying out new foods at home.
“Veg Power has been looking at the many aspects of feeding a family in a healthy way, helping to support parental role modelling and developing positive food cultures within the home. I believe that through this powerful work our team has created a brilliant campaign that can offer help and hope to millions of families in the UK.”
The campaign moves beyond traditional public health campaigns and focuses on the wider issues, including:
- Creating a positive food environment within the home
- How to gently engage children
- Understanding your children’s natural taste and sensory preferences
- Effective role modelling
- What to do when your kids just say ‘no’
Dan Parker, chief executive of Veg Power, added: “For the first time, UK families have a public health campaign that recognises there are many potential issues that can impact on a family’s ability to eat healthily. Through our work over the last six years we have gained a deep understanding of the complexities of feeding a family and have developed this campaign so that it caters for all, no matter what their particular struggle may be.
“We have to recognise that feeding a family is hard work with parents facing many challenges including the cost of food and a fear of rejection and waste particularly when trying something new. We have rallied an outstanding group with a diverse range of expertise working together to create solutions squarely founded in the best science, deeply sympathetic to people’s lives and full of the joy of family, fun and food.
“We are confident that our approach will make the good choices, the exciting choices making a much needed and important contribution to improving our nation’s diet and ultimately, our nation’s health.”
As part of Simply Veg, a comprehensive manual ‘How to Get Your Kids to Eat More Veg – A Simple Guide to a Tricky Task’ has been developed. The manual is currently being piloted with 3,000 families in the London Borough of Lambeth.