BACK IN 1974 when the Overend sisters left their 38-acre farm in Dundrum to the people of Ireland as a charitable trust, Airfield Estate already had a rich history of helping the community to make healthier nutritional decisions.
The sisters had by that stage helped to set up Dublin’s first ever “clean milk” depot to provide inner-city families with pasteurised milk. Now nearly fifty years later, we’re facing another major problem with our nutrition – unfortunately, we’re on track to become the most obese nation in Europe by 2030.
And when the team at Airfield Estate learned of this, they wanted to do all that they could to understand what was going wrong. They joined forces with the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics in University College Dublin to launch research into the eating habits of young people.
So, what did they learn? It seems our issues may stem from a disconnect with the actual food production process, says Aislinn Barrett, head of CSR and sponsorship at Airfield Estate. Here, she shares the insights that have come out from the study 0f 350 students.
The most surprising finding? Though the research found that 85% of primary school students eat breakfast, by Junior Cycle that figure drops down to 53%. “That is a big problem”, says Barrett. Though the study showed that they do realise breakfast increases concentration, it’s just not as much of a priority by secondary school:
The high rate in primary school is directly linked to parental influence, but as autonomy shifts and as they get older, kids claim they don’t have time (24%), they don’t feel hungry (15%), or list other reasons (8%) for not having breakfast.
There was also a significant gender difference in the results, with 27% of girls choosing to skip breakfast daily versus 19% of boys. Why is this meal so important? “It’s been proven that not eating breakfast leads to making poorer food choices throughout the day”, explains Barrett.
“The other thing we researched was children’s knowledge of where food comes from”, says Barrett. The students were asked to identify if animal products were involved in particular foods. Some 60% could identify when they were present, but “their correct identification of which animal wasn’t great, at 45%.
The ingredients that presented especially poor results were baked beans, white pudding and honey. “This really shows a disconnect with where our food comes from”, says Barrett. “They say Irish people are usually only two or three generations away from the land”. For Barrett, getting kids out to an urban farm like Airfield Estate is a way of tackling that.
Initially, Airfield Estate began tackling the problem by focusing on hosting a breakfast clubs for DEIS schools – something they’ve since extended to all schools. “Research shows that among kids of 15 and over, one in four is obese in the most socio-economically deprived areas, but it drops to one in six in the wealthier areas.” Barrett explains that obesity carries higher risk of bullying, early death and chronic diseases. “So getting our food right from a young age is really crucial.”
At the Airfield breakfast clubs, kids visit the chicken houses, hold warm eggs in their hand, watch the cows being milked and meet the farmers, gardeners and bakers before they make and eat breakfast together. “They’re meeting people who work closely with the land”, says Barrett. Airfield also reinforces the social aspect of eating – “a lot of kids aren’t used to sitting down and having a social connection around food, which is so important”.
Barrett herself has four kids and therefore absolutely understands the appeal of convenience but she does try to be a bit more organised about planning meals. “Having food that’s healthy in the fridge at all times is crucial”, she shares. Often Barrett will cook a ham, leave it sliced and have some good bread or hard-boiled eggs. “They will eat it if it’s easy and they can put it together themselves”.
And when they were younger, on Sundays Barrett would ask one child to help with breakfast, one with lunch and one with dinner, and each meal had to have seasonal ingredients in it. “It was a brilliant way to get them to try new things, develop good habits and gave us so much quality time together as a family”.
So, what can be done to ensure that young people are eating more nutritious food day-to-day? “Start by eating a health breakfast – we need to move away from highly processed foods and introduce more ‘real food’ into their diets”, says Barrett. The key to this? We need to help young people be more connected to their food:
They need to learn how to cook, know where their food comes from and know what’s in season in Ireland – and when.
At Airfield, young people are encouraged to try to eat locally-produced, sustainable and seasonal food – the GLAS rule: “G is for go with the seasons, L means local produce, A stands for avoid food waste and S is for sustainably produced.” These are designed to encourage everyone to make better food choices – for their health, pocket and planet.
Airfield Estate is a non-for-profit organisation which seeks to help inspire and enable people to make better food choices. Open daily for people to visit, there’s a working farm, gardens, heritage centre and farm to fork restaurant. Here you can have a look at their brilliant education programmes for primary schools, secondary schools and colleges and universities.
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