Children across the Netherlands discovered the delights of a healthy lunch on Albert Heijn’s Class Lunch day earlier this year. With the emphasis on fun, they enjoyed treats such as ‘ape sandwiches’ and ‘healthy faces’ – sandwiches with peanut butter and slices of banana, or with dairy spread, lettuce, tomato and cucumber.
A fun way to learn about Healthy Eating
Albert Heijn introduced its Class Lunch day in 2006 as part of its focus on Healthy Eating. Having established programs for customers and employees, the company wanted to reach out to the community by educating children about this vital topic.
Albert Heijn’s Class Lunch day is designed to show youngsters that healthy lunches can be both tasty and fun. It targets children in the last year of primary school, because that’s a critical moment. When they move on to high school, most children organize their own lunch instead of their parents. They go to the canteen, or a local café or supermarket, and their choices usually favor chips, snacks and sweets rather than fruit and veg.
So on Class Lunch day, Albert Heijn delivers lunch packets to participating schools along with suggestions for healthy, fun alternatives like the ‘ape sandwiches’. The schools also arrange for the children to eat together, so they discover the social pleasure of eating as well.
A masterpiece in fruit and veg!
This year, there was added fun at Amersfoort Zoo, where an invited group from the local school got creative with fruit and veg. They put together a 25 square meter artwork, using fruit and veg to ‘paint’ colorful smiling faces. It was a great way to express the day’s theme: ‘Healthy eating is no art’. Or in other words, you don’t need any special skills to make healthy choices.
Paul Rosenmöller, chairman of the Dutch ‘Overweight Covenant’ (the national platform for the reduction and prevention of obesity) was present to symbolically receive this unusual masterpiece. And he and the children engaged in a lively conversation about healthy eating.
A year-round program
Albert Heijn has also worked with the Dutch Food Center, a non-profit nutrition institute, to develop a whole ‘Class Lunch’ teaching program. The Class Lunch website offers materials for teachers, discussions forums, a photo gallery, plus videos featuring Bart Broccoli and Marie Mango who helps him improve his eating habits.
Although started only last year, Class Lunch is proving popular. Within two days of inviting schools to participate, Albert Heijn had received 2,500 replies. In the end the company went beyond its projected 2,000 and managed to cater for 2,200 schools. Next year, it hopes to continue the initiative, helping children develop healthy habits for a lifetime of lunches.