Locally sourced – TrayTalk.org

Learning Extends to the Lunchroom in Minnesota

The cafeterias of Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools (MN) not only serve nutritious foods, they also work to offer students experiential learning opportunities in the cafeteria. The nutrition program introduces students to culturally relevant foods through a monthly program and has developed a life skills lesson component to a coffee delivery program at the high school. Through regular sampling in the cafeteria, events with local farmers and student gardens, the nutrition program engages students of all different ages in nutrition education.

College Menus Served in GA High School

Students in Thomas County Public Schools are getting exposed to the college experience without leaving their high school cafeteria. The district’s creative school nutrition team puts together an event called Taste of College featuring dining hall favorites from area colleges and universities in Georgia.

More Students Opt for School Meals in MA

Massachusetts is one of five states offering free school meals for all students in the 2022-23 school year following the expiration of federal waivers that provided free meals for all last year. As a result, about 77% of students in the North Andover Public Schools district are eating school lunch every day – and enjoying all the great options the program is offering.

The increase in meal participation is a win for the school district and the students. Additional funding means the nutrition department can focus energy on making improvements, from enhancing menus and increasing scratch cooking to implementing new service options to ensure students can start their day with a healthy breakfast.

Taking school meals on the road in Louisiana

The Curbside Café will soon be hitting the roads in southeastern Louisiana. The Livingston Parish Public Schools’ child nutrition team hopes to increase meal participation at some of the district’s larger campuses by offering a variety of specials through the mobile food trailer. The team will also be working with the district’s Career and Tech Ed Department to involve students in the Curbside Café.

School meals in WA include cultural flavors

School recipes that reflect culturally relevant flavors from within the school community are welcoming to students in the cafeteria. When Highline Public Schools in Washington asked for student feedback about new lunch and breakfast menu ideas, requests included Hispanic food, vegetarian options, and Foods Native to WA, such as Salmon and berries.

Providing free fresh produce all day

Carts full of fresh fruits and vegetables provide options to nourish elementary students through the school day in McLean County, Kentucky. Students looking for a healthy snack are able to grab one off the hallway cart at any time of day in school, thanks to a grant.

Bringing more local foods to school lunch

October is National Farm to School Month, an opportunity for school districts to shine a light on all of their efforts to provide local foods on student lunch trays.

In central Minnesota, Nay Ah Shing and Pine Grove Nutrition Services Coordinator Deborah Foye has been cultivating relationships with area farmers for produce and meat for the last decade.

School Greenhouse Grown Veggies on the Menu

Produce grown in the district’s new greenhouse will be on the menu this fall in Denver Public Schools‘ (CO). According to school officials, the 28,000 square foot greenhouse is the first of its kind in the United States and will eventually hold up to 35,000 plants.

Taking Farm-to-School Food on the Road

To get farm-to-school and locally sourced foods to more students, Buffalo Public Schools (NY) invested in a food truck, which went on the road in October of 2020.

“We only serve New York-made beef, hotdogs and hamburgers on the food truck. Any entree served comes from local farms, such as locally grown eggs, New York grown potatoes and hydroponic lettuce,” said Bridget O’Brien Wood, Food Service Director for Buffalo Public Schools. The menu is dependent on the current growing season.

Lettuce for CA district grown in freight farms

An innovative freight container system modified into a vertical hydroponic garden produces just over a thousand heads of lettuce each week, served fresh for Ann Sobrato High School students to enjoy at lunch. The freight farm is just 320 square feet and sits on a concrete slab outside the California school, in Morgan Hill Unified School District.