Locally grown cherry tomatoes featured on Emerson Elementary’s salad bar in December. To help kick off the school year and Washington’s Eat Local Month in September, we’re sharing some exciting highlights from our Healthy Food in Schools initiative, in partnership with Seattle Public Schools (SPS)!
To thrive at school, students need easy access to fresh and nutritious foods. Our Healthy Food in Schools initiative supports SPS’ efforts to provide more culturally relevant and scratch-cooked meals. This includes buying local and organic ingredients from Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) farmers to support a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient local food system.
This year, working closely with SPS, local farmers and produce vendors, and our community partners, we’ve provided more fruits and veggies to students and supported school chefs with crafting delicious meals made from scratch. Here’s some of the progress we’ve made together.
New Vendors and Even More Produce from our Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program
More than 5,000 students at 27 schools get access to fresh produce at school thanks to our Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program. That comes out to more than 386,000 fruit and veggie snacks in one school year. Through the program, students see more than 50 different types of produce, including mangoes, peppers, purple cauliflower, bananas, melons, dragon fruit, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi. This month, SPS will provide locally grown cherry tomatoes, peaches, summer squash, green beans, carrots, Asian pears, and apples at participating schools.
We partnered with new local food vendors to make these offerings possible, including Cascadia Produce, IRC New Roots, and Food Oasis. These small businesses are providing equitably and sustainably sourced produce for the program, including products straight from nearby farms.
We also partnered with local organization FEEST on a pilot project designed by and for youth to help the Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Program better reach students at high schools in South Seattle. The project included surveying students about snack preferences, testing distribution locations, developing new promotions, and gathering student feedback about the pilots. Read more about the project on FEEST’s blog.
Scratch Cooking Training for SPS Kitchen Staff with Local Chefs
At SPS Culinary Services’ weeklong training for school kitchen staff last month, the team learned how to use more local ingredients and culturally relevant menu items to make delicious, simple meals from scratch. Melissa Miranda from Musang, a community-driven local Filipino restaurant located in Beacon Hill, demonstrated the creation of several Filipino dishes including chicken adobo and pancit.
Also at the training, student culinary interns competed with SPS chefs to see who could develop the tastiest recipes that meet school lunch program requirements. Our Healthy Food in Schools staff lead, Chris Iberle, shared an update on the Seattle School Meals & Food Education Working Group’s efforts to support school kitchen staff and improve students access to high-quality meals.
The training also included a keynote panel about the importance of school meals for students and local farmers, featuring speakers from FEEST, SPS student leadership, Cascadia Produce, and Garzón Restaurants. The training was supported by funding from OSE’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm to School grant received in 2024.
Harvest of the Month is Returning to Seattle Schools!
Over the past couple years, SPS Culinary Services has been purchasing more foods from local farms and businesses. This year, SPS staff are working to expand their relationships with farmers to supply local ingredients for school meals throughout the school year. To get students and families excited, SPS will highlight a local ingredient in multiple meals every month.
The Harvest of the Month item will help students and families learn about where their food comes from and the local farmers tending to the land. This will be supported by a Washington State Department of Agriculture Farm to School Purchasing Grant, awarded to Seattle Public Schools this month!
Stay tuned throughout the school year
- Check out SPS Culinary Services’ upcoming menus updated monthly with breakfasts and lunches, local food features, and more.
- Follow SPS Culinary Services on Instagram for updates.
- Read more about OSE’s Healthy Food in Schools Initiative on our website.
- Listen to former SPS Executive Chef Emme Collins talk about her past work on school meals during an interview with Seattle Times food writer Tan Vinh on her podcast episode, “Dishin’ up Diaspora.”