Sand Fork kindergartners enjoying their daily afternoon snack from the federal fruit and vegetable program. Teachers say the snacks cause students to seek out the same fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria. (Photo, Kate Long)

Kids started eating more at lunch after Lincoln County’s Midway School switched to brightly-colored trays, principal Cheryl Workman observed. “People don’t realize, but many kids choose their food by the way it looks,” she said. “We go to a lot of effort to cook nutritious food from scratch, so we do whatever we can to make it look attractive.”

The same thing goes for the salad bar, she said. “We try to have bright-colored foods mixed in with the whites and greens.”

Her experience matches Cornell University research. Cornell researchers found that the amount of fruit children chose at meals went up 100 percent when it was put in a brightly-colored bowl. Salad bar sales tripled when the salad bar cart was placed in front of the cash register.

Gilmer County High School cooks package fresh veggies and fruit in convenient grab-and-go form. “The kids started eating a lot more fruit and vegetables after we did that,” one cook said. (Photo, Kate Long)

“Whatever they can easily see, they get more of,” Workman said.

Similar studies found that sales of healthy sandwiches doubled when students who bought them could go through a speedy “healthy express” line. When cafeteria workers asked students, “Do you want a salad?” sales went up a third.

Gilmer County High School cooks say that matches their experience. GCHS has one of West Virginia’s highest percentages of students who eat school lunch: more than 70 percent. GCHS cooks package the food to make it appeal to students. For instance, they put raw vegetables in little grab and go bags, to make it convenient for students in a hurry. (See photo at right.)