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Baltimore School Students Learn About Healthy Foods After Trip To A Farm

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- Good food starts at the farm. It's what city students are learning first hand.

Gigi Barnett takes a look at the farm and the summit designed to teach that lesson.

Ever try frozen grapes on a warm day? Or maybe a granola and strawberry parfait for breakfast? How about fresh pineapple with peach nectar for an after-school snack?

They aren't the types of foods some children reach for first, but that could change for some kids after they took a trip to the city's Great Kids Farm.

At this week's Good Food Summit, chefs teach kids about healthy foods facts and myths.

"Fruit and vegetables, you also need to eat a lot," a student said. "Diet coke can give you a heart attack."

But the farm and the summit have a bigger purpose. School leaders say they show kids just where food comes from. It's a lesson on the farm could cut down on overweight kids.

"We know that we have a problem with childhood obesity in our cities," Dr. Andres Alonso, CEO of Baltimore City Schools, said. "It's actually a huge problem compared to our suburbs and this is a way we get them to be very conscious about this."

"More than 2,000 city students work this farm every year. Although the district has owned it since 2008, it is just now at the production level where it can begin supplying full salad bars to cafeterias."

"They're starting young. If you start young growing food, then it should be cool," Frank Saunders, a farm intern, said.

The city also held a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday for its new food laboratory that includes a cafe and a classroom right on that farm.

More than 100 kids visited the farm for the Good Food Summit.

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