The Veggie Brek intervention
Nursery staff were asked to offer children in their nursery [room] three carrot batons and three cucumber sticks at breakfast time alongside children’s main breakfast food (e.g., cereal, toast). Nursery staff were asked to offer the vegetables to the children every weekday for three consecutive weeks. Vegetables (raw carrot batons and raw cucumber sticks) stored in plastic containers were prepared by the research team who ensured baton/stick-size uniformity (without weighing each piece) before being delivering the containers to the nursery on Mondays and Wednesdays. As the nursery staff offered breakfast to the child, they were asked to inform children that ‘there were also some carrot and cucumber pieces for them to eat too, if they wished’. Children were offered their main breakfast with the vegetables presented alongside using usual nursery crockery. All nursery staff delivering the intervention were provided with a training manual and their line manager ensured staff had read and understood the manual. The manual included detailed instructions about the trial procedures, responses to frequently asked questions and contact details to discuss any issues with the researcher.