Get your hot dogs, get your edamame

Can healthy snacks sell at a basketball game?

Researchers in Anoka-Hennepin schools are about to find out. Using grant money from the Minnesota Department of Health's Statewide Health Improvement Plan (SHIP), they are supplying concession stands at four of the district's five high schools with healthy snacks. The participating schools are Anoka, Andover, Champlin Park and Coon Rapids.

It's become common for schools to stock cafeterias and vending machines with healthier foods and drinks than they did in the past. Introducing healthier snacks at athletic events marks another step toward getting Americans to eat better.

The idea is to see whether almonds, roasted edamame (green soybeans inside shells), peanuts and baked curls (sort of like Cheetos) can compete with hot dogs, nachos and candy bars. Project directors stress that they're not replacing standard concessions fare, just giving people more choices.

"We're not saying you can never have any sweets, you can never have a hot dog," said Jennifer Flavin, one of the SHIP grant coordinators for Anoka-Hennepin schools. "We just want to give people that [healthy] option so they're not forced to make unhealthy food choices."

The emphasis is on a few healthy options that are not so much low-fat as they are packed with nutrients.

"Baked curls are not necessarily low-fat, but at least they have nutrients in them," said Whitney Willemsen, Anoka-Hennepin's other SHIP coordinator. "Peanuts also. ... But looking at those compared to a candy bar, it is a little better."

The volunteers staffing the concession stands are given the opportunity to experiment with the pricing of the healthy food options and how to market them. The program started in mid-January and will continue through March. The healthy snacks are featured at such events as basketball games and wrestling and gymnastics meets. Hockey is not part of the program because those games are generally played at rinks in buildings away from the participating high schools.

A preliminary survey conducted earlier this month at a Coon Rapids basketball game by Flavin and Willemsen has shown that customers "were very positive about wanting new things and trying new things."

Flavin and Willemsen also sense that pricing will be a key factor. Another survey Willemsen and Flavin will conduct later in the program will provide more information about how successful the new concession fare has been, as well as possible strategies to sell more healthy snacks. Neither Willemsen nor Flavin is aware of other school districts that have embarked on such a project.

SHIP grants amount to $47 million spread out among schools and other community and health sites throughout the state. In the Anoka-Hennepin district, the grants also cover initiatives that focus on other nutrition projects, as well as tobacco use and physical activity.