Beecher's Pure Food Kids Foundation

Beecher's Pure Food Kids Foundation is a nonprofit initiative working to empower kids to make healthy food choices for life through our Pure Food Kids Workshop - a dynamic learning standars-aligned, commercial-free, no-cost, nutrition and food science education program. The foundation receives generous support from Beecher's Handmade Cheese, the Mark and Suzie Torrance Foundation, Whole Foods, and other philanthropic donors. To date, more than 60,000 kids have participated in our workshop in hundreds of classrooms around the Puget Sound region as well as in New York City.

The workshop aims to spark curiosity and empower kids with the tools they need to understand:

• How they're being marketed to on a food package
• How to read and decipher the nutrition facts statement and ingredient lists
• The difference between whole and processed foods
• How to spot common food additives and understand their potential health effects
• How to read and follow a recipe while making a hearty vegetable chili

Now in its ninth year, our workshop has been well received by teachers and students (and we receive great comments from parents, too!). The kids love learning how to become Food Detectives, working as a group to break down what's really in the foods they're eating and especially enjoy the opportunity for hands-on cooking while they make a whole food chili right in the classroom!