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Interesting interview today on NPR's "Tell Me More". Two K-12 school food service directors talking about recent changes in menu and preparation, with an emphasis on fresh, local, more fruits and vegetables.
These are pretty much the same sorts of changes we've been asking Food Services at Greenback to make. So far, they're talking the talk pretty well but only walking the walk slowly. With a limp. When the weather's good.
Four things really got my attention.
First, the school systems are large (Baltimore, MD and New Haven, CT) -- they probably feed more meals, and certainly more students, than we do here at Greenback. Anything they're doing is of a useful scale.
Second, while Baltimore isn't in what I consider to be the Northeast, New Haven clearly is. Their growing season isn't far different from ours here in Backboro. And what's "local" for them is pretty close to what's local for us.
Third, the food service directors both claimed to be saving money -- sometimes, real money -- by serving local produce. That flies in the face of some of the protestations voiced by our food buyers here.
And last, the K-12 folks say they're seeing a real change in terms of their students' willingness to try new foods, to eat things that don't come out of a can or a freezer, to expect fresh fruit and veg even to the point of getting their parents to demand more from the local supermarket produce manager. That, in turn, flies in the face of that eternal justification for carbs and fat in the dining halls -- "we'd like to serve healthier food, but the kids just won't eat it"!
So maybe, on the food front as in so many other areas of sustainable behavior, a little child shall lead them.
One can only hope.
