This March, Milliken & Company welcomed nearly 20 children to our Spartanburg, South Carolina, global headquarters to participate in Bon Appétit Management Company’s Healthy Kids in the Bon Appétit Kitchen program.

Looking to foster healthy habits in the next generation, Healthy Kids in the Bon Appétit Kitchen is a hands-on experience exploring fruits and vegetables, healthy eating, and cooking through the eyes of elementary- and middle school-aged children. We were honored to host this event for our local community, inviting Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate to participate.

Hannah Schmunk, Bon Appétit’s manager of food education for children, led the group of budding chefs as they turned garden fresh produce into an appetizing feast. She and Milliken’s Bon Appétit chef team showed those participating that whole fruits and vegetables can be easily – and deliciously - incorporated into our everyday diets.

She also shared a few tips on how you can foster healthy eating habits with your own children:

• Keep a positive tone. Rather than bartering with your child (“If you eat your Brussel sprouts, you can have dessert”), offer them as delicious foods packed with superpowers to keep us healthy and strong. 
• Get kids involved. Encourage them to help you in the kitchen - washing and drying produce, measuring, mixing, and especially taste testing. Plus, there are many kid-friendly kitchen tools available, like child-safe knives and peelers, that will enable even greater participation.
• Redefine healthy in your household to be fun and adventurous.
  • Bring your kids to the grocery store with you and enlist their help shopping for your weekly groceries.
  • Follow a list together and make searching for each item feel like a scavenger hunt.
  • Pick a new, out-of-the-ordinary fruit or vegetable from the produce section to take home and try, whether by tasting it raw or finding a recipe incorporating the selection. 
• Be patient. It might take your kids a few tries before they like something, but commend them for trying each and every time.

Thank you to our valued partners – Bon Appétit and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate – for supporting this exciting program, and we look forward to future opportunities to give back to our community.