Whether you’re a student, administrator, farmer, or journalist covering Kentucky schools’ movement to buy and serve local, everyone agrees: fajitas are great.
At Boyle County High School, local cumin-marinated beef is served on corn tortillas accompanied by cheese, guacamole, bright red tomatoes and fresh lettuce.
This is just one of the many dishes enjoyed by teenagers in Boyle, a far cry from the days of fruit cups, tray pizza and skim milk, times that everyone involved is glad to have left behind.
According to Lex 18 News, about 150 Kentucky farms sell their produce to about 90 school districts in the state thanks to a pandemic-era grant that provided $3.2 million for this purpose.
The attitude of Cheyenne Barsotti, director of Food Services for the Boyle County School District, makes it clear that the transition to local has affected much more than just teenagers’ enthusiasm for lunchtime: it has completely changed the way the school approaches eating.
Barsotti’s cafe staff can cook from scratch on occasion, depending on the products available. As children enjoy and delight, confidence in the kitchen increases and cooks feel confident trying new recipes.
Several students told the NBC affiliate that the fajitas were rated 9.5 out of 10.
“I love it because that means they’re enjoying it,” Barsotti said. “We prioritize those main products on the plate, so ingredients like meat that are going to be the main dish, as a director, I prioritize them because I know that the quality is notable when you buy the local product, and I think our children notice it too.”
Under the new direction of American health policy, the USDA Dietary Guidelines have emphasized, for the first time in their history, a focus on protein over carbohydrates, and real foods—that is, foods that break down and don’t come out of a box—over all else.
This in turn is reflected not only in the food purchased at schools like Boyle, but also in the farmers who sign up to supply it.
YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:
- A Boston hospital treats food as medicine with its own rooftop garden
- Walmart heiress opens medical school with focus on preventative medicine
- More than 90% of schools in England ban the use of smartphones, 13 US states have already taken action
Circle G Farms, a diversified farming operation just 7 miles from Boyle, raises cattle on pasture with feed grown on the farm, whose manure fertilizes the entire operation.
“That’s the origin of Circle G Farms,” explained Carly Guinn, co-owner and operator. “We try to use every division of our farm to its full potential and keep it sustainable.”
Circle G has now been selling to schools like Boyle for several years, and although that grant money has stopped, the program has revitalized so many school districts that they are trying to maintain the new direction, the new attitudes, and the new menus, as much as possible.
WATCH the story below in the ‘Field Notes’ segment of LEX 18…
Leave a Reply