Farm-to-school

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Fitzpatrick, T. (2016, October). Making farm-to-school work on the menu. Food Management. Retrieved from
http://app.link.pentonfoodnews.com/e/er?s=1943367007&lid=64847&elqTrackId=97cf85239faa452aa17fc59726c4cba9&elq=b742ca5b864042bc9c6deeb65e4d8b29&elqaid=12420&elqat=1&utm_rid=CPG06000001659945&utm_campaign=12420&utm_medium=email&elq2=b742ca5b864042bc9c6deeb65e4d8b29


            This article presented in Food Management magazine highlights the trend of farm-to-school and one school foodservice director’s program to create a healthier school environment. Allyson Mrachek is the director for child nutrition for Fayetteville Public Schools in Arkansas and oversees 14 schools within her district. She discusses the basic steps needed to begin a farm-to-school program, such as training kitchen staff on preparing whole foods and establishing relationships with local farmers.  One trend her district has adopted is Meatless Mondays, stating that this meal can be fun, healthy, and more indulgent.  One example of a meatless Monday lunch that she serves is cheese fries with a kale salad. She also discusses her competition for lunch participation- packed lunches. In effort to increase participation, she adapted recipes from students’ favorite restaurants, such as chicken Alfredo pasta form Olive Garden and chicken teriyaki from Chick-fil-A to meet the NSLP nutritional guidelines.  Mrachek has also done test testing with the students to determine which food items need to be tweaked and which should not be put on the menu. 

-AC

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