BELLINGHAM - Public school students who buy lunch are used to seeing processed meat and cheese served with pre-cut produce, likely shipped from out-of-state.
But one day a year, students in Washington are treated to a lunch featuring items from the state. And for Whatcom County students this year, that annual meal is being supplemented with monthly meals that feature a locally produced item as part of a countywide farm-to-school initiative.
Wednesday, Sept. 28, was Taste Washington Day, an event organized by the state Agriculture Department and the School Nutrition Association. Districts across the state could voluntarily change their lunch menu for a day to include items grown and produced in Washington, with the goal of increasing the farm-to-school movement.
School districts across Whatcom County offered a variety of local items, including strawberries from Clark's Berry Farm and apples from Bellewood Acres.
"It's a lot better than our regular food," said Sunnyland Elementary School fourth-grader Sterling Cochran after polishing off a yogurt parfait that featured Darigold yogurt, blueberries from Williams Farms in Everson and granola from Erin Baker's in Bellingham. "It tastes more fresh."
In Bellingham, students received a lunch that was entirely "local" - the lettuce for the chicken Caesar salad traveled the farthest, coming from Hendrickson Farms in Marysville. The rest of the lunch featured the yogurt parfaits, organic chicken from Draper Valley Farms in Mount Vernon, and wheat rolls from Breadfarm in Edison that ended up being the most popular menu item at Sunnyland.
"It's way better," said fifth-grader Harry Conover. "For one thing, it's actually better food; it tastes better and is much healthier."
"On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11," fourth-grader Kathy Trinh said after finishing her Caesar salad and roll.
New this year, Whatcom County school districts partnered with the Whatcom Farm-2-School program to offer locally grown produce at one meal each month. The Harvest Item of the Month program gives students an opportunity to not only eat food grown in Whatcom or nearby counties, it also gives students a chance to try something new.
Cherry tomatoes were September's produce. Upcoming produce includes broccoli, carrots, apples, frozen blueberries and raspberries, spinach, cauliflower and fresh strawberries.
Mark Dalton, Bellingham School District's food service director, said there are challenges in working with smaller farms and companies: More labor is involved preparing the food, because it's not processed, and it can be difficult finding a price acceptable for both parties.
But the meals featuring "local" items tend to be popular. On Taste Washington Day in 2010, the Bellingham district had a 32 percent increase in the number of students buying lunch.
"The nice thing is making contact with local vendors that we want to use in the future," Dalton said.
