--- title: School Lunch Recess: How To Get Kids To Eat Fruits and Vegetables description: School children who have recess before lunch are more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables than those who play after eating canonical: https://time.com/3667349/school-lunch-vegetables-recess/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-14T19:48:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:05.202Z article:section: Health og:title: Here's How To Get Kids To Eat 54% More Vegetables og:description: A simple schedule change can make produce seem way more appealing og:url: https://time.com/3667349/school-lunch-vegetables-recess/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabb6b44e274a7168/6987789255a8592ef4a851df/food-healthy-vegetables-chard-carrots.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1929 og:image:height: 1085 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Food Healthy Vegetables Chard Carrots og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How To Get Kids To Eat 54% More Vegetables twitter:description: A simple schedule change can make produce seem way more appealing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabb6b44e274a7168/6987789255a8592ef4a851df/food-healthy-vegetables-chard-carrots.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 04:14 video:published: 2014-04-24 section: ideas topics: edible education, school gardens, children and cooking, fast food culture, nutrition, traditional foods, collaboration, food stewardship, Edible Schoolyard genre: interview, documentary tones: earnest, passionate, hopeful, reflective emotions: passion (high), hope (medium), concern (medium), joy (medium) sentiment: positive audience: educators, parents, food enthusiasts, policy makers, students people: Alice Waters organizations: The Edible Schoolyard content_suitability: health controversy [00:29-00:47]; hunger and poverty [03:26-03:34] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Here's How to Get Kids to Eat 54% More Vegetables > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=a7031c15-bb3b-46bb-a639-fd2f7bdcbf00&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Alice Waters on Edible Education [Watch (HLS stream): Alice Waters on Edible Education](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BRkbfoQ5.m3u8) (4:14)  _Published 2014-04-24. Alice Waters, chef and activist, talks about her project The Edible Schoolyard_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary Alice Waters, a chef and activist, discusses the idea of edible education and her Edible Schoolyard project. She describes the fast-food culture she saw in the 1980s and early 1990s and argues that children need to learn to grow and cook food. The video highlights students cooking together, a school cafeteria competition in which teams plan and present menus, and the need to make traditional nourishing foods taste good to children. ## Key points - Waters says edible education is an idea whose time has come, tied to growing food and the way people nourish themselves. (00:07) - Waters describes the mid-1980s and early-1990s as a fast-food culture in which fast, cheap and easy food had taken over. (00:29) - Waters says we need to edible educate every child in America so they learn to nourish themselves. (00:56) - Waters says she was moved most by the collaboration at the schoolyard, with children harvesting, bringing produce into the kitchen and cooking alongside the chef. (01:10) - Waters describes a master chef competition in which each kitchen table becomes a team that plans, executes and presents a menu without help from teachers or volunteers. (01:49) - Waters says traditional foods such as chick peas must be learned and made tasty, and that children initially resisted tasting them. (02:18) - Waters says learning to cook and grow food is essential for survival and that children learned to cut like a chef. (02:45) - Waters says she wants to win children over rather than tell them what to eat, because children will not change their diets simply because they are told to. (03:52) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:29] Edible education as an idea. Waters introduces edible education as a way of teaching about growing food and nourishment. - [00:29 to 01:05] Fast-food culture and the need to teach. Waters describes the fast-food culture of past decades and the need to teach children to nourish themselves. - [01:05 to 01:49] Experience at the Edible Schoolyard. Waters recalls what she loved about the schoolyard, especially the collaboration between children and the chef. - [01:49 to 02:18] Master chef competition in the kitchen. Waters describes students in teams competing to plan, execute and present menus independently. - [02:18 to 03:03] Making traditional foods taste good. Waters discusses reviving nourishing traditional foods and how children came to try them and learn cooking skills. - [03:03 to 03:38] Essential skills for survival. Waters argues that cooking and growing food are essential skills everyone needs to know. - [03:38 to 04:14] Winning children over and stewardship. Waters explains her approach of winning children over and calls for good stewardship and coming to the table together. ## Key quotes - [00:07] Alice Waters: "Edible education is an idea whose time has come." - [00:56] Alice Waters: "we need to edible educate every child in America." - [01:10] Alice Waters: "What I loved most was, the collaboration." - [02:18] Alice Waters: "we have to learn how to make these things tasty." - [03:52] Alice Waters: "I'm not wanting to tell children what to eat, I'm wanting to win them over." - [04:00] Alice Waters: "We need to live on the planet together." ## Questions this video answers - What is edible education? [00:02] - Why does Waters think children need to learn to cook and grow food? [03:03] - What did the master chef competition at the schoolyard involve? [01:49] - How did children react to traditional foods like chick peas? [02:18] - How does Waters propose getting children to change their eating habits? [03:52] ## Content suitability - health controversy [00:29-00:47]: Discusses fast food and its health effects in a critical way; no specific controversy named. - hunger and poverty [03:26-03:34]: Brief mention of poverty and hunger in America.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 14, 2015 7:48 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 14, 2015 7:48 PM UTC There’s a way to get school kids to eat more vegetables at lunch, and it has nothing to do with what’s on the menu. Just mess with their schedule, finds a new [study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743514004599) published in the journal _Preventive Medicine:_ Kids who have recess before lunch are more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables than those who play after they eat. The study looked at 2,500 kids in seven Utah elementary schools who participated in the National School Lunch Program, which serves balanced lunches that must include a serving of vegetables with each meal. Three schools switched their schedules to hold recess before lunch, while the other four schools kept recess after lunch. Researchers stood by the garbage cans and measured how many children threw away fruits and vegetables and found that the schedule swap boosted produce consumption by an impressive 54% for elementary school children. That’s because young students tend to rush through their meals and skip the most nutritious parts when lunch is held before recess, the authors say. “Recess is a pretty big deal for most kids. If you have kids \[choose\] between playing and eating their veggies, the time spent playing is going to win most of the time,” said study author Joe Price, an economics professor at Brigham Young University, in a press release. The effect may not hold for children who bring their own lunch, since these kids skip waiting in lines and feel less rushed to get to recess, the authors say. Previous [research](http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9061459&fileId=S1368980013001468) has shown that children in the United States throw away nearly $4 million in fruits and vegetables every day, so an easy schedule swap may be a cheap way to reduce food waste, increase students’ focus in the classroom and improve the diets of American children. “It’s a very simple solution, and it doesn’t cost all that much,” said David Just, study author and Cornell University Professor, in a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Hql47eqMQ). “It’s just moving recess before lunch.” _Read next:_ [_Let Your Kids Sleep More For Better Grades_](http://time.com/3663796/for-better-grades-let-your-kids-sleep-more/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript [00:02] [ SOUND ] Edible [00:07] education is an idea whose time has [00:13] come. It's a way of teaching. It has to do with the [00:17] growing of food and the way that we nourish ourselves. [00:22] [ MUSIC ] In [00:29] the mid' 80s and early' 90s, we were really [00:33] in a fast- food culture, it [00:38] was also the vice of fast, cheap and easy [00:43] that had really taken over. Tonight, McDonald is [00:47] making my family dinner because there's no way I can [00:50] tell these big brown eyes mommy doesn't have time. [00:53] And we need to teach children how to nourish [00:56] themselves. And we need to edible educate every [01:01] child in America. When I [01:05] went to the edible school- yard, I was flowered. What [01:10] I loved most was, the [01:15] collaboration. The urgency of working together and [01:16] making things work, of the children taking what they [01:21] were planting and cutting down and gathering, and [01:24] bringing it into the kitchen and cooking along with the [01:28] chef. I also loved the way the chickens walked around [01:32] [ LAUGH ] and visited everyone. This [01:36] isn't just a garden in a school, I've never thought of it [01:38] that way. I always thought about it as a complete [01:45] [ INAUDIBLE ] that had the cafeteria at the centre. [01:49] They could learn the value, the cooperation that [01:53] happens when children cook together. They [01:57] are having a master chef competition. Each table [01:59] becomes a team, and they compete with the other two [02:02] tables in the kitchen to plan a menu, execute the [02:06] menu, and then present it. They're working [02:07] independently with no help from any teachers or [02:10] volunteers. And they are selecting their own [02:12] vegetables, and timing themselves, and organizing [02:14] themselves. We need [02:18] to understand the traditional foods that were so [02:22] nourishing to people, and we have to learn how to [02:26] make these things tasty. And it [02:31] actually tastes good like, it's sweet and spicy, and [02:33] really nice. When they first saw food like chick peas, [02:35] [ SOUND ] they didn't want to taste it. You know, the [02:40] unknown doesn't always look like it's smiling at you, I [02:45] love to see the children really cooking. I love the way [02:48] they learned to cut like a chef. They learned to, try [02:50] food. Honestly the sausage stuff if really good. I used [02:50] some of the recipes that they can own and if I really [02:51] like it, then I start [02:56] trying to cook it. [03:03] Learning how to cook, learning how to grow food. [03:08] Everyone needs to know these things, [03:12] because they're they're essential for our survival. We [03:26] know about the health issues of fast food, we [03:31] know about poverty, we know about hunger in [03:34] America. This [03:38] is something that there really needs to be taught [03:43] in a very different way. Children will not immediately [03:48] change their diets because someone has told them [03:52] that it would be better to do so. I'm not wanting to tell [03:56] children what to eat, I'm wanting to win them over. We [04:00] need to live on the planet together. We need to [04:05] be good stewards, we need to know how to nourish [04:07] ourselves, and we need to know how to come to the [04:10] table. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3667349/school-lunch-vegetables-recess/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3667349/school-lunch-vegetables-recess/"},"headline":"Here's How to Get Kids to Eat 54% More Vegetables","datePublished":"2015-01-14T19:48:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:05.202Z","description":"A simple schedule change can make produce seem way more appealing","url":"https://time.com/3667349/school-lunch-vegetables-recess/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","Children","diet","Exercise","Education","Research"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabb6b44e274a7168/6987789255a8592ef4a851df/food-healthy-vegetables-chard-carrots.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabb6b44e274a7168/6987789255a8592ef4a851df/food-healthy-vegetables-chard-carrots.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Food Healthy Vegetables Chard Carrots","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Food Healthy Vegetables Chard Carrots","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3667349/school-lunch-vegetables-recess/","name":"Here's How to Get Kids to Eat 54% More Vegetables"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Alice Waters on Edible Education","description":"Alice Waters, chef and activist, talks about her project The Edible Schoolyard","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BRkbfoQ5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-24T10:24:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BRkbfoQ5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3667349/school-lunch-vegetables-recess/","duration":"PT4M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3667349/school-lunch-vegetables-recess/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```