Have you ever tried fattoush, the bread salad from the Eastern Mediterranean made with tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, parsley, bread and dressing? What about chapatis, Indian flatbreads similar to pita bread?

In classrooms and after-school settings, kids throughout New Hampshire are participating in a UNH Cooperative Extension Nutrition Connections program called Cultural Cuisine, where they prepare and try international foods and learn about the culture of the people from each country.

Antonia Demas developed the Cultural Cuisine program in New York as part of her Cornell University dissertation to introduce kids to new food. She wanted them to experience food with all their senses in hopes of motivating them to prepare food and eat more variety.

We've seen it work first-hand in New Hampshire in more than 50 classrooms over the past five years. Each class session focuses on a different country. Kids learn about the language, arts, foods, history, and location of the country. Then every child has a meaningful job as the class prepares a representative dish from that country. Overall about 98 percent of the kids try the recipe.

The comments say it all:
"I loved it. The mustard gave it a big zing. I went back for seconds." (Lentil salad from the Eastern Mediterranean)

"It was good, except the mango and parsley." (Mango Salsa from South America)

"It was fun. I liked cooking."