Thunder Bay’s Westgate CVI Challenges Students to Local Food
Posted: October 30, 2013
Categories: Edible Education Network / Edible Education Project Profiles / Good Food Ideas for Kids / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario / Schools
Remember, only one day left to the Ontario Farm to School Challenge!
One of the Ontario Farm to School Challenge submissions received was from a family studies teacher, Kathryn McKee, at Westgate CVI in Thunder Bay. The school is one of four from the Lakehead District School Board which has teamed up with the non-profit, Roots to Harvest, whose mission is “to provide transformative educational opportunities for youth to engage with local agriculture and cultivate healthy communities.”
As a part of the Farm to Caf program Westgate CVI has been offering local foods on their cafeteria menu this month and it has proven to be a hit with the students and staff. The initiative involves cafeteria staff and the grade 11 and 12 food classes who work in partnership to produce the feature meal in the cafeteria every second Wednesday for 8 weeks. Kathryn is hoping that it won’t end there and that the momentum achieved so far will propel them forward to new and exciting local food opportunities.
Their first meal, which sold out, included a hamburger, potato wedges and corn on the cob. All ingredients were sourced from Thunder Bay farms: beef from Forrest Beef and Dr. Dan, corn from Belluz Farms, lettuce and tomatoes from Debruin’s Greenhouses (grown hydroponically), onions from Mile Hill Farm and potatoes from Brueklman’s Farm. Two weeks later they changed the meal slightly to coincide with seasonal produce and thus switched out the corn on the cob for acorn squash soup. The students were uncertain about trying the soup but when they did the consensus was that it was delicious. For the third meal they offered pulled pork on a bun, garlic mashed potatoes and coleslaw and sold 77 meals. Ingredients were from the same farms mentioned above, in addition to pork from Squash Queen.
The food classes have done as much of the prep as possible including such tasks as making the hamburgers, shucking corn, scrubbing and cutting potatoes, baking acorn squash, making soup, cutting cabbage, grating carrots and making coleslaw dressing. Some students have offered up their lunch hours to serve the food in the cafeteria.
Kathryn says that the initiative has “created a real buzz around the school. As you walk through the hallway, you can hear conversations between students that are discussing the benefits of local foods.” Westgate CVI has definitely succeeded in challenging their students to embrace local food this month. Not only has local food become a part of the curriculum and the cafeteria menu, but the students have really taken ownership of the project and many have changed their attitudes towards healthy food. Great job Westgate!