Vegan Preschoolers Profiled by Wall Street Journal

A New Jersey preschool was recently highlighted by The Wall Street Journal for its all-vegan organic lunch program aimed to “give vegetables some life and [make them] interesting and appetizing to children who would otherwise not eat [them] at home.” The Scandinavian School in Jersey City, NJ gets it 92 students—ages 1 to 6 years old—involved in making healthy, plant-based choices for their meals by allowing the toddlers and preschoolers to help create dishes such as butternut squash risotto and fresh broccoli salad, pick herbs and kale from their own garden, make homemade nut milks, and enjoy fresh bread baked in-house. Those with concerns about children on vegan diets are reassured through annual “tastings” with a nutritionist to ensure the proper amount of calories and nutrients are being met. Above all, the staff said, a sense of community is the end goal: children prepare food together, sit and eat together, and teach each other as they learn. “I don’t like these cheese things,” one student said, squishing a white cube she scooped from her bowl of miso soup. “They’re not cheese,” replied one of her classmates. “They’re tofu.”