SM PLATES"We are what we eat."
This simple yet profound statement is timeless. We live in times where convenience beats our actual nutritional needs. Mission SM Plates aims at beating the convenience of junk food and unaware eating by truly fulfilling our need for healthy and tasty food alternatives. Our children's research, surveys and interviews within the community led them to see that the major reasons that people resort to eating unhealthy food were - its taste, convenience and its widespread availability, especially when it came to snacks. Think about it, isn't it harder to resist reaching out for that pack of chips than giving yourself a convincing reason as to why you should not. These are problems that our SM Plates children face too. But, they are making a choice to do something about it and make a difference not just for themselves but for the larger community as well. They put these problems through the design thinking process to brainstorm and arrive at the core issue; their problem statement - "Lack of alternatives and variety to tasty and healthy snacks" |
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Inception
Mission SM Plates was one of the Sparkling Mindz missions that was born in the year 2019. This was around the time when Nutella-like spreads were a fad.
In one of the many conversations that Sreeja ma'am was having with children about health, they were made aware of the fact that the kind of spreads that are available in the market and that they consume are loaded with unhealthy ingredients such as sugars, fats and preservatives. Along with this, we also discussed the health consequences and lack of awareness associated with it. Children felt alarmed at the realization and wanted to explore alternate options - 'Can we make healthy spreads using nut butter?' they wondered. However, before children could take any tangible action, COVID-19 had declared a different plan for all of us.
Fast forwarding through 2 years of the pandemic, as a school, we decided that our missions cannot stop because children are online and stuck behind a screen. This academic year (2021), we decided to pick up from where we left. SM Plates along with the other missions (TRUI, MCV and CSP), walked the road less traveled to make a difference, to impact our immediate community in small ways possible. The road has been challenging yet empowering for children.
Mission SM Plates was one of the Sparkling Mindz missions that was born in the year 2019. This was around the time when Nutella-like spreads were a fad.
In one of the many conversations that Sreeja ma'am was having with children about health, they were made aware of the fact that the kind of spreads that are available in the market and that they consume are loaded with unhealthy ingredients such as sugars, fats and preservatives. Along with this, we also discussed the health consequences and lack of awareness associated with it. Children felt alarmed at the realization and wanted to explore alternate options - 'Can we make healthy spreads using nut butter?' they wondered. However, before children could take any tangible action, COVID-19 had declared a different plan for all of us.
Fast forwarding through 2 years of the pandemic, as a school, we decided that our missions cannot stop because children are online and stuck behind a screen. This academic year (2021), we decided to pick up from where we left. SM Plates along with the other missions (TRUI, MCV and CSP), walked the road less traveled to make a difference, to impact our immediate community in small ways possible. The road has been challenging yet empowering for children.
Our Journey so far
2021-22
The entire journey can be looked at in three phases which have been elaborated below.
Children were reintroduced to the mission and the food related problems around them. They took it on themselves to explore and research about what defines something as junk food, what are the ingredients present in our food, what do the nutrition labels really tell us and what are the consequences of unaware junk food habits. They went on to survey and interview people to know their understanding and beliefs about junk food and why they resort to it.
Here is the presentation to the research that they presented during Independence Day, the end of their Phase 1.
2021-22
The entire journey can be looked at in three phases which have been elaborated below.
Children were reintroduced to the mission and the food related problems around them. They took it on themselves to explore and research about what defines something as junk food, what are the ingredients present in our food, what do the nutrition labels really tell us and what are the consequences of unaware junk food habits. They went on to survey and interview people to know their understanding and beliefs about junk food and why they resort to it.
Here is the presentation to the research that they presented during Independence Day, the end of their Phase 1.
| sm_plates_presentation_2021-22_.pdf |
The preliminary research demanded children to ask deeper questions to understand the heart of the problem. Our Dolphins, (6-8 year olds) at the time working independently of the older children in the school, arrived at the problem statement - "People know that junk food is not good and still eat it. How might we motivate them to adopt". This led them to think of creative solutions to spread awareness, hence arriving at the JUNKOMETER. "Lack of variety in tasty and healthy alternatives to snacks" |
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Surveys led children to arrive at the need for healthy snacks as the alternatives as one of the solution.
Our Leopards went through the process of creating a business plan and started owning SM Kitchen at school which provided healthy snacks to the children. They offered prototypes for tasting, collected feedback and then arrived at their final product. Meanwhile, a team took an initiative to spread awareness of the benefits of those snacks and held the culture with respect to eating habits in the school premises. |
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2022-23
We asked ourselves a few critical questions to design solutions to tackle the problem statement and build awareness in the school community -
We asked ourselves a few critical questions to design solutions to tackle the problem statement and build awareness in the school community -
- How might we adopt mindful eating practices at school?
- How might we empower individuals to make healthier food and lifestyle choices?
- How might we create healthy alternatives that are accessible to individuals?
- How might we build trust with our existing customers?
- How might we collaborate with changemakers walking a similar path?
Our Solutions & Achievements
Building systems at school to adopt mindful eating practices:
Creating healthy alternatives :
- Zero food wastage campaign: Children monitored the food wastage at school during lunch time and encouraged children to finish what is on the plate.
- Healthy snacks practices: Children did the snacks tracking and encouraged others to bring healthy snacks at school.
- Birthday policy: We encouraged children to bring dried fruits, healthy sweets, homemade cookies, or books as offerings.
Creating healthy alternatives :
- The SM Plates children made healthy snacks available to children at school : Sweet corn, Banana milkshake, Fruit salad, Sweet potato chaat, Lemonade, Wheatgrass juice
- We created our original products :DJ Quarter Bar, Caramel Makhana, Watermelon cake
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Here is the video which presents the impact we have created through the year. |
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Our Learnings This journey brought us opportunities to learn and grow. This is the video that talks about our processes and skills we learnt so far. |
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Our stories of transformation
Our journey in SM Plates has transformed us from within. It helped us to
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Next steps
1. Continue to hold healthy eating practices with self and in community. 2. Building awareness about the healthy choices. 3. Continue to collaborate with aligned people & research on food and its effects. 4. Work on cookbook app that allows you to make better choices and plan your week's meal. 5. Work on making & scaling healthy alternatives. |