Somerville Public Schools celebrate Food Day 2015

October is a VERY busy food holiday month for the Somerville Public Schools. Not only is it National Farm to School month, but we also celebrated Corn Shucking Day, Salad Bar Day, National School Lunch Week, Food Day, and School Garden Week. Phew! The kitchen staff was working hard!

With approximately 5000 students in the district, nearly 3000 of them eating lunch daily, we decided to celebrate Food Day 2015 with a Local Harvest Day. We interpreted this year's theme, Toward a Greener Diet, to mean Toward a Sustainable Diet. Local butternut squash and apples were sourced through our produce vendor, Russo's. Through North Coast Seafoods located in Boston, we sourced wild caught Sole, certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.

The fish was served at all ten Somerville schools. Just over 1700 students chose the fish entrée with either the butternut squash or a piece of fruit as a side. We consider that a success!

Truth be told, fish can be a tough sell. But one of the goals of the Somerville Food and Nutrition Services Department is to expose students to unfamiliar foods in the hopes of expanding their palates. Last June was our first attempt at Sea to School and over the past few months, we've been ramping up our purchase of local fish. Students are slowly but surely trying the fish and it's quickly becoming a teacher and staff favorite.

Promotion is key to the success of new foods in the cafeteria, so teachers were given educational materials provided by the Marine Stewardship Council to use with their students.

Somerville FNS will continue purchasing local and regionally harvested fish as part of our Sea to School efforts. Read more about the Somerville Farm to School Project on our blog.