Making a big noise about vegetables

An unusually loud crunching noise came from the undercover pavilion at Parkfield Primary on Tuesday morning as students from the junior grades joined together to break “crunchibel” records.

The annual Great Vegie Crunch is an initiative set up by Cancer Council WA under the Crunch&Sip program where primary school students simultaneously crunch on fresh vegetables to raise their ‘crunch-o-meters’ off the charts.

Celery, capsicum and carrot sticks were passed around to the students who gathered in the pavilion as they prepared to make the loudest crunch noise possible.

The Crunch&Sip app was used to measured the level of “crunchibels”, which saw the children crunch as loud as a crocodile.

Deputy principal Rachael Harper said Parkfield Primary was proud to be a Crunch and Sip school.

“We encourage our children to snack on fruit and/or veggies in the morning and drink water all day long,” Ms Harper said.

“Statistics have shown that only one in six WA kids eat enough veggies, so it’s important that we try to promote healthy eating whenever we can.”

Cancer Council WA schools nutrition coordinator Shannon Wright said the Crunch&Sip program was about establishing healthy eating habits early in children.

“Consuming vegetables and fruit not only helps to improve physical and mental performance, but it promotes long term health as well,” Ms Wright said.

Now in its 14th year, the Crunch&Sip program is a daily feature in 452 primary schools around WA.