School Initiatives
What is the Food Dudes Programme?
Food Dudes is Ireland’s national healthy eating programme for primary schools. It works by positively changing children’s attitudes towards eating fresh fruit and vegetables. This is achieved by combining three key elements – repeated tasting, rewards and role modelling – on a recurring 4-year cycle.
Year groups are split into Junior, Intermediate and Senior, with specific approaches for each group. Junior materials are designed for Junior Infants, Senior Infants and 1st Class. Intermediate materials are designed for 2nd,3rd, and 4th classes. Senior materials are designed for 5th and 6th Classes.
The more we taste a food, the more we learn to like it. Evidence shows that multiple tastes of the same food – as many as 15 or more – can be required to establish a liking for that food.
Food Dudes offers children a variety of different fruits and vegetables to try on rotation in an exciting, encouraging way. Across the 3-year cycle, children’s palettes are expanded as they sample an assortment of fresh produce and begin to add new foods to their diet.