What is a 'Rainbow Plate'?

It occurred to me that it was time to answer this simple but important question. Perhaps you’ve just joined us for the first time, or maybe you’ve been following Rainbow Plate since the beginning. Either way, I thought I’d take a minute to talk about the concept that’s behind our name and everything we do.

So, what is a Rainbow Plate? It’s a plate of food, but it’s really so much more than that. It’s a fresh approach for thinking about what you eat, and it’s simple way to ensure that you’re fueling your body with a whole spectrum of healthy nutrients.

Quite simply, a Rainbow Plate is a plate that contains a vibrant mix of colourful fruits and vegetables. No matter what’s on the menu, any meal or snack can become a Rainbow Plate by simply adding a bit of this or that. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Think about adding some carrot slices and colourful pepper strips to the plate with your dinner, or tossing deep green spinach into the pan before you crack your eggs. Mixing up some tuna or bean salad? Toss in some chopped celery, radishes or bright yellow corn to bring it to life. Top your yogurt or cereal with purple berries or diced yellow mango.

Even better, kids love to create their own rainbow plates at meals and snack times. Keep a variety of fresh or frozen produce on hand, and let your kids get busy in the kitchen. Let the creative juices flow and see what colourful combos they come up with. Kids love to eat what they’ve helped create. When we work with young kids, we teach them this rhyme: “Rainbow Plate, Rainbow Plate, tell me the colours that you ate!” Kids love chanting it and they love to count the colours that they see in front of them.

A plate brimming with vibrant colours is appealing to look at, and that’s important too. We eat with our eyes first, and visual appeal even gets our digestive juices flowing.

We’ll be featuring lots of rainbow plates on our blog and social media as we move forward. Subscribe to our newsletter, and our YouTube channel for weekly updates, recipes and tips for putting this approach into action. We like to think of it as an “inspiration station!”  Join our community on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

We’d love to see the Rainbow Plates that you and your family create. Be sure to tag them with #rainbowplate and share them with us.

We’ll put your inspiration out there for our whole community to see!

Colourfully yours,

Janet