Two Raw Sisters and a Giraffe

Life Education Trust is teaming up with Two Raw Sisters and the 5+ A Day Charitable Trust to inspire, motivate and educate tamariki and mātua (parents) about the benefits of eating vegetables and fruit as part of a balanced diet.

A national tour of schools and communities beginning in March will bring the entertaining and passionate cooks Margo and Rosa Flanagan, known as Two Raw Sisters, to classrooms all around Aotearoa.

The partnership offers the 5+ A Day team an important opportunity to engage with tamariki about their nutritional needs, sources of kai and basic food preparation skills.

“We want to make sustainable change, increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables by sparking interest with hands-on learning in schools,” says Carmel Ireland, Project Manager at the 5+ A Day Charitable Trust.

“It’s important that we are capturing the attention of parents too, sharing useful skills to help whānau improve their nutrition,’ she says.

Life Education Trust Chief Executive, John O’Connell says the programme comes at a critical time for many families.

“One in five children in Aotearoa live with food insecurity. While the path to food security is a complex one, teaching healthy eating habits from a young age is proven to be an important part of the solution,” he says.

With 45 teachers working in 1,400 schools,Life Education Trust is New Zealand’s largest health education provider, supporting the health and wellbeing of tamariki throughout Aotearoa.

“Meeting with both tamariki and parents in their communities is a great way of providing information in an accessible, interactive format that’s both engaging and motivates long-term positive change. We’re really looking forward to sharing the youthful and engaging approach of the Two Raw Sisters,” says O’Connell.

The Flanagan sisters, whose mission to share the benefits of plant-based nutrition has seen them publish three best-selling cookbooks, a successful app and encourage their thousands of social media followers to experiment with tasty tips and recipes, are excited to start their busy schedule of school visits.

“We want to change the narrative that meal-planning starts with meat. By providing tasty, interesting, and easy recipes and ideas to make vegetables and fruit the star of the show with protein the supporting act.”

“And, most importantly, we want to have fun teaching tamariki how to maintain a healthy mind and body through the goodness of freshly grown plant-based dishes.” says Margo Flanagan.

For more information, see the Two Raw Sisters and A Giraffe website