Can anyone help me get my students to eat their fruits and vegetables?

I know this is a problem in most elementary schools and the higher grade levels aren't as picky, but I am having a very difficult time getting my kids to eat healthy. Our class business is a farm to school pantry, and I love ordering all the new fruits and veggies for them to try every two weeks or so. They were absolutely excited at the beginning of the year, and now are mostly disappointed or annoyed when they see produce in their bags. It's driving me up a wall because I think it's so important for them to eat healthy. I will list below as many strategies I've tried, but if you have any others, then please please please let me know. They will eat goldfish crackers, cheese its, pretzels, or a cookie over fruit and carrots.<br><br>The kids have been begging me to let them have chips, popcorn, or cookies over crackers and fruit. I've said no for the reasons that it's not healthy, and doesn't fit the theme of the farm to school business as well. They've also begged to bring snacks, so I let them bring one day a week and now most of them are bringing things like fruit snacks, chips, popcorn, cookies, etc. and I don't think they're eating the produce over that. Our After School Program lets them choose whatever snack they want on their shelf, and most of them are as unhealthy as you can imagine. Most of the parents who bring them snacks bring junk food. <br><br>Here are the strategies I have already tried:<br><br>1. Letting them choose the produce to order from an approved list. Each class gets a vote, and we have 300 students. Putting fruits and veggies as a democratic vote has allowed us to incorporate healthy produce that they will eat as well, such as apples, oranges, banana, and carrots, which I thought would get them excited to eat healthy produce in general. They aren't. They will eat both, and then leave the other produce behind.<br><br>2. Slicing and dicing fruit. The kids will eat apples and oranges if they are sliced, so I tried this with other fruits such as strawberries, grapes, and watermelon. They still taste the same, in my humble opinion, and the kids aren't eating them when I cut them up.<br><br>3. Letting them dip their snacks in hummus. I have given them hummus to dip their snacks in, but the kids will still not eat their snacks as long as they are fruits and veggies.<br><br>4. Incorporating produce into recipes. Our in-school cooking program has allowed us to make healthy recipes with the fruit as well. Stuffed strawberries were a hit, but didn't get them to eat strawberries by themselves, and stuff like fruit salads and fruit smoothies.<br><br>5. Incentives for eating their produce. I've offered incentives such as extra recess time, class coupons, special passes, etc., but they will rather have extra recess time and not eat their snacks. They don't have enough class coupons to buy whatever they want, no matter how much they eat, so I thought that would be a good motivator, but they still aren't willing to eat their produce in order to eat something else. And with the special passes, I will let them do anything but eat their snack, and they aren't willing to eat their snacks for things like be the line leader, sit on the teacher's desk, eat lunch with the teacher (who actually brings them junk food), choose the game, etc., Some kids will always eat their snacks, no matter how healthy they are.<br><br>6. Nutrition and health unit in science. I have spent weeks on a nutrition and health unit, and it honestly makes me feel like I wasted my time. We learned about the different food groups and healthy food vs junk food, and they just aren't interested. Almost all of my kids were making healthy choices anyway, and they still aren't eating their produce. I could have taught them anything else, spent just as much time, and got the same results.<br><br>7. Sneaking healthy food into the kids. The kids eat our homemade granola bars, muffins, salad, and smoothies, but the kids in my class aren't eaters unless it's junk food, so they don't eat enough to eat their serving of fruit or veggies anyway.<br><br>8. Asking the parents and the kids what they would like. I did a survey with the kids and as a class we brainstormed what fruits and veggies they like, what preparation methods they like, and what dips they like. I did the same thing with the parents, and got absolutely no feedback. I thought if I let them have what they want, then they will eat it, but the kids don't like fruit and veggies at all, so they aren't going to eat it no matter what.<br><br>9. Leading by example. I always eat the produce in front of the kids, and talk about how delicious it is. I will also ask to try their snacks, and some of them will give me a bite and will eat the bite afterwards. But some of them won't give me a bite and will still eat it afterwards, so it's not consistent.<br><br>10. Creating a classroom culture around business. They understand we are running a farm to school pantry, and they understand why they get to eat the produce and why it's important. Some of them love eating the produce, and I think it would spread like wildfire if they started eating it consistently. But we are not there yet.<br><br>11. Making it fun. We taste test as a class and choose which produce we like best. We have a taste test scale of 1-5, and we give our opinions of the produce after trying it. I also will sometimes bring them little snack bites of fruit, and they know it's healthy but are excited to try something new as a bite sized snack. But then I full size that fruit and they won't eat it. I just don't know what else to do to make it fun and exciting.