Know Your Farmer
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food
It might surprise some, but even though Oklahoma is in the heart of Midwest, some kids in the city of Tulsa don’t know a great detail about how their food arrives on their dinner plate.
Union’s Child Nutrition Department hopes to open children’s eyes and help them know their food.
The “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food,” program is a reoccurring promotion that features a different fruit and vegetable each month on the menus.
Child Nutrition is very passionate about using as much local produce and foods as possible in the meals served to students.
Local foods are more nutritious, better tasting and fresher. Purchasing local foods reduces the ‘carbon footprint’ by reducing the transportation distances required to get food from the farm to the table. In addition, purchasing local foods pumps more dollars into the state economy and supports Oklahoma farmers.
By relying on local farmers, students receive quality food, are exposed to many new and different kinds of foods, and with the help of their new program, students will learn about where foods come from, hopefully establishing healthy nutrition habits that will last a lifetime.
An information board in each school cafeteria highlights the farmer who supplies Union its monthly produce, as well as recipes.
Farm to School
Because new federal regulations require much more fruits and vegetables, Child Nutrition is excited about the opportunity to participate in the Farm to School program to meet these regulations.
Union Schools have partnered with Peachcrest Farms in Stratford, Oklahoma, to provide as many local, seasonal vegetables and fruits as possible. Menus will highlight watermelon, cantaloupe, spring mix, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, kale, swiss chard, spinach, sweet potatoes, lettuces, and herbs grown right here in Oklahoma, and they are organic, too!
We also make fresh pizzas from scratch using pizza dough made from Oklahoma grown wheat. Buying local produce allows us to provide the freshest, most nutritious, best tasting fruits and vegetables, and also stimulates the Oklahoma economy by providing a market for Oklahoma farmers to sell their products.
Child Nutrition is committed to purchasing quality products that are the best tasting and nutritious, student-approved foods available. We buy name brand, high quality foods such as Chobani Greek yogurt, Dole, Pilgrim’s Pride chicken, Made In Oklahoma Advance Meats, Land o’ Lakes dairy products, Pepperidge Farms goldfish bread and many others.
We are working together to ensure healthier students!