Thousands of Somerville youth try local sweet potatoes! And the verdict is...

Samples of the local sweet potato and black bean salad!

This month, thousands of elementary students throughout the district explored sweet potatoes through taste-tests offered during their lunch periods by the Somerville Farm to School Program and Drumlin Farm. Working in partnership with Drumlin Farm, who runs afterschool programming and supplements produce for our salad bars during the growing season, the November taste-tests are part of the district’s food literacy campaign to increase the acceptance of new, fresh foods and create new recipes for the lunch menu using local ingredients.

We are thankful for the many parent volunteers who helped hand out samples and collect data.

So what did the data say? Of the 2,000 students who voted after trying the delicious sweet potato and black bean salad, 61% said they would eat it again. Because so many students at least tried it, we call that a win! To those who said it wasn't their favorite, we urged them to explain what they would change about it. We heard answers such as, "I would eat it if it didn't have the little red things (peppers)", "it's weird that it was cold" and "nothing".

A Capuano student casts his vote!

The recipe was inspired by the Island Grown Schools Farm to School program in Martha’s Vineyard. We’ve included the recipe so you can try it out too!

For our final taste-test of the month, we had a special visitor, State House Representative Christine Barber, visit Winter Hill Community School to observe and participate in our local food taste-test! Representative Barber is a Farm to School supporter and we were honored to have her visit and see first-hand the impact our project is having on the community. For those of you wondering, Christine voted in favor of the sweet potato salad! Hear, hear!

Emma Scudder, Drumlin Farm educator, and Christine Barber, State House Rep., collect votes for the sweet potato salad at Winter Hill Community School

Drumlin Farm staff harvest sweet potatoes destined for Somerville schools.

Comments

Mindful Eating: Part 1

In order to digest your food properly, your body must be in parasympathetic mode, or in a state of non-stress. Kindergartners know this. Well, they might not know the scientific term yet, but during lunch they participate in 6 minutes of silence; a period they call "Mindful Eating". When asked why they like mindful eating, the children replied, because "it’s quiet”, “I can enjoy my food better”, “I get peace and quiet”, and "it’s calmly”. Kindergartener teacher Ms. Scrima, and other Kennedy School teachers have been implementing mindfulness in the cafeteria and their classrooms since last year. They are proud to have a lunch period that looks and sounds quite different from the chaotic cafeteria rush other classes often experience. While the students sit silently at the lunch table checking in with their emotions, their digestive systems are also benefitting. Physiologically, only when our bodies are in rest mode can the brain trigger the release of digestive ...

Put your best FORK forward during National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month! Each year the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics develops new topics to celebrate National Nutrition Month. This year's theme, Put your best fork forward, encourages us to consider that every bite counts. Even "small shifts in our food choices, can add up over time." Here in Somerville we are celebrating National Nutrition Month in a few ways. ~ We are releasing Veggie of the Month kits in each school's library! The kits contain books, taste testing supplies, and a binder with lesson materials for each month! ~ We are visiting a few PreK-2nd grade classes to "taste-test" the veggie of the month: leafy greens! In the classroom, we are reading Sylvia's Spinach and making a simple salad dressing to drizzle over spinach! (Be sure to check back later for the results of our visits!) ~ Our Wellness Champions and Farm to School Staff are posting bulletin boards and fliers around the schools! ...

Argenziano After-School Art Club Creates Mosaics for School Garden

In Ms. Diana Taremi’s Art Club it’s all about line, form, color and composition. More than a dozen middle school students started on several projects on Monday afternoons; creating art both for themselves and making projects to beautify the school. Their first assignment: Georgia O’Keefe-style painting on large canvases for the first floor hallway. The bright, lush flower canvasses are still works in progress. The students are also creating flower tile mosaics that will be set in cement and used as stepping stones in the school’s kitchen garden. Ms.Emily Bhargava, a mosaic artist from Somerville, donated her time and bags and boxes of materials; tiles from large to small to the art club for the project. On a recent afternoon, Ms. Bhargava spent an afternoon at Art Club teaching Ms. Taremi and the students how to assemble the mosaics. First the students painted large pictures of flowers. They covered these with plastic wrap to protect them; then layered mesh on...

Somerville Farm to School Project

Search This Blog