Talofa lava and welcome to another episode of tasty talk. I have officially been a part of belly for almost 2 years now and as we near the beginning of the Winter season at BayFM i thought it an interesting time to take a listen back to when i started and therefore realise how far i have come.

When i first decided to start on belly, i had no experience in a magazine radio show … you know, talking to people and putting together interesting and informative radio. I had plenty of experience as a music DJ and still love that ‘other side’ of my radio personality, but life aint nothin’ without a challenge, so i approached Sister Tess and somehow convinced her to take me on as a bellysister. I hear the words “You’re in !!” Now all i have to do is make it happen.

The first live interview i did took me to Ocean Shores Public School where i was eager to delve deeper into the Nutrition Programme that headmaster Chris Horitz has set up as part of the school curriculum. I had read about it in the local paper and decided that this was a major part of my passion surrounding Nutrition – to help educate children, the next generation, about the importance of good, healthy and nutritious foods in their lives and that of their families.

Each week, a different class from the school boards a bus early in the morning and heads down to the New Brighton Farmers Market where they have a set budget to spend on creating an amazing lunch. The lists and ingredients are all worked out in a classroom activity prior to the children attending the markets, so by the time they have their purchasing jobs completed and the goods in their hot little hands, all that’s left to do is sample the free delights that the generous stall holders provide for the ever hungry and eager children.

I talk to all of them all one by one and ask them various questions about their specific role in the preparation of the meal and their opinions on some of the interesting and unusual foods they may be tasting for the first time here today. Finger limes are popular, as are the dried bananas they get to chew amongst the fresh morning dew.

Once all of the buying, tasting and gathering is completed, the kids jump back on the bus and head back to school, a mere five minute journey away. A gentle ambiance is restored to the marketplace once again and the birdsong replaces the chatter of excited children, happy to be in a different kind of classroom environment than one they are used to on any other school morning.

Once back at school, i interviewed Chris Horitz the headmaster and was impressed by his level of enthusiasm and dedication for teaching these lucky children how to prepare and put together a nutritious meal.  He’s thrilled with the support he has received from the parents, marketeers and organizers of the programme but even happier with the response from the children themselves, who are over the moon to be involved so hands on, in this lesson of love.

I leave his office (it’s not been often that i’ve left a headmaster’s office without being in trouble) and eventually rejoin the children in class and think about the words of the headmaster. He is a positivly influential man and his passion for teaching grows far out of the confinements of the classroom walls, and deep into the land surrounding his school and the children, as they explore the humble beginnings of food and not just accept that it comes from the fridge at home or the supermarket shelf. He hopes that they will go home and teach the rest of their family what they may be learning here for the first time and also that they will be inspired to plant their own little patch of food somewhere, at some point in their lives, whether it be now or sometime in the future.

There is also a garden up and running on the school grounds, to further the experience of eating locally and knowing where that food comes from and how it is grown. Future plans are to plant seedlings from the market, and eventually sell them back from a stall at the very market they started from to raise money for other great school projects.

Meanwhile lunch is being prepared back in the classroom as the produce is being arranged and preparation begins. The aroma of passion fruit is making my mouth water so much i’m afraid you’ll be able to hear me dribbling into the mic when i record the kids talking about this next stage of the game.

Knives are slicing, dicing and impressively chopping as voices echo excitedly around the compact space. Tables that are usually reserved for ordered work and neat book keeping are covered in breadcrumbs and sharp knives. All around i see vibrant colours; star fruits gleaming like they belong in the sky, apples crisp and juicy, plump pears, bananas ripe and tasty, salad leaves fresh from the farmers garden glow in all their shades of green, tomatoes red as the rosy cheeks of the children cutting them, cheeses and yogurt, fresh and fragrant, mingle with the smell of fruits opening in front of me and baring their innermost gloriousness.

The whole scene is one of pleasure and joy, enthusiasm and effort, hunger and mouthwatering patience and i myself feel that at least once, in each child’s life, they should have the right to experience something as wonderfully sharing and natural as the preparation and consumption of a meal bursting with as much wholesome and vibrant pureness as the children themselves.

Ocean Shores Public School has great initiatives in place to encourage sustainable living and learning and if i could choose a school that I’d want to go to then this would be it … hhhmmm, pity i have already completed my primary education. Good to see the next generation with so much opportunity to learn the things that a lot of us grew up taking for granted but that are so important in these times that we are now living.

Here’s to educating the children of the world and guiding them into the healthiest life possible. From school life to home life, for the rest of their lives, let’s hope that opportunity’s like this one at school plant the seeds of wholesomeness that grow into love for themselves and the planet we live on.

As for me, I’m happy to have been able to have shared this interview with you a second time and am planning to go back to OSPS and see how the structure of Nutritional learning is holding up. I also plan to have less uuuummmm’s than my first interview and a variety of questions for the children that enable them to open up and really share with us their thoughts and views on food and how it affects their lives.

I’ll be back with more conversations, straight from the mouths of babes.

xx sister R