On Common Ground - Winter 2016: Healthy Communities

By G.M. Filisko

It was the underappreciated radish’s turn to be veg- etable of the month at the Broward County public schools, and Darlene Moppert proudly tells the story of a teacher calling her to pass on a delicious nugget of information. “One of the activities was for students to describe their feelings when they ate the radish,” recalls the program manager of nutrition education and training at the approximately 230 Broward County, Fla., schools (in the Ft. Lauderdale area). “One first-grader said it was like ants dancing on her tongue. We try to do things to make fruits and vegetables seem fun.” Moppert is among a growing crowd mixing up school food choices to get students to eat healthier. It’s happening not just through school menus and education but also by creating farm-to-school food programs through which local schools purchase the harvests of local farmers.

“Farm-to-school means three things,” explains Anupama Joshi, executive director and co-founder of the National Farm to School Network in Cary, N.C. “It means local and regional food procurement in food cafeterias. It also

Farm-to-school food programs are important in changing the health of children and providing benefits to farmers. means gardening activities in school, and third, it’s food and farming education in the classroom. The trifecta of these elements is important in changing the health of children and providing benefits to farmers.”