COMMITTEES Farm to School
COMMITTEES Farm to School
Farm to School Feature
Farm to School Feature
Harvest NY Launches the Farm to School Regional Coordinator Program BY CHERYL BILINSKI, CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION HARVEST NEW YORK
Culinary Competition at HMS BY ASHLEY CARPENTER, DTR DIETETIC INTERN While the products were cool, the competition was hot in the kitchen of Hamburg Middle School’s Family and Consumer Science Class! The students were challenged to develop the best Green Goddess recipe in their cohort. Both cohorts were broken intomultiple teams. The two winning recipes will be featured on the upcoming school lunch menu. Involving students in recipe development makes them more likely to try new items and together share a sense of pride in their accomplishment. Starting with a base recipe that I prepared, students creatively used an abundance of fresh herbs and a variety of veggies to create their masterpiece. Options included chives, cilantro, jalapeno, avocado, baby kale and sugar snap peas. Each group recorded the amounts of each ingredient they incorporated. It was a blast guiding the students in achieving their culinary vision! Cohort A made variations of a Green Goddess dressing using Upstate Farms NY Greek yogurt. Students
To ensure smart, strategic, and sustainable farm to school expansion, Cornell Cooperative Extension Harvest NY, with funding from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, is launching a New York Farm to School Regional Coordinator Program focused on the following regions: North Country, Hudson Valley,
FARM TO SCHOOL COORDINATORS
Catskills, and Long Island. The Regional Coordinator Program will coalesce existing efforts and expand upon Farm to School support being led by Harvest NY Specialist Cheryl Bilinski and supported by Becky O’Connor, Western NY Farm to Institution Coordinator. It is our intention through this program to provide coordinated and comprehensive support to Farm to School stakeholders, including farmers, school food authorities (SFAs), food manufacturers, distributors, processors, food hubs, and educators. The primary goal of this program is to increase the volume and variety of local farm products purchased by SFAs for use in child nutrition programs. Other goals include facilitating idea sharing between regions, assisting schools to meet procurement regulations, and coordinating local connections between farmers and producers.
sampled their creations with lettuce they harvested that day from their classroom growing racks. The growing racks are harvested every couple of weeks and the bounty is frequently added into school lunches. The reigning Green Goddess dressing will be offered as a salad dressing option. Cohort B taste tested their spreads on various veggie burger varieties including spicy mushroom and lentil. The students voted for their favorite veggie burger, which was a tie between spinach and beet. Anne Rich, Hamburg Foodservice Director, is collaborating with Genga Ponnampalam, owner GoVeggies!, to develop a healthy vegan NY- 30% eligible burger. This burger will come dressed with the winning vegan Green Goddess spread. The champions were determined by Chef Gene, from the Middle School kitchen, after sampling each groups’ flavorful concoctions. This isn’t the first time students have been involved in Hamburg’s recipe development. Recently, students had a NY sauce-off with Supt. Mike Cornell and MS Principal, Tom Adams. Family and Consumer Science Class teacher, Sheri Gund, is always thrilled to include innovative ways to get her class excited about cooking, while Tricia Miller, highlights the connection of growing food to the kitchen- bringing F2S full circle.
Connect with a Farm to School Coordinator in your area by searching through this interactive map . CCE Harvest NY is in the process of onboarding Coordinators in the Hudson Valley, Catskills, and Long Island. As such, Cheryl Bilinski is listed as the temporary contact in those regions.
For more information on the initiative, please see the Department of Agriculture & Markets press release. In addition to naming the Regional Coordinator Program, the press release announces performance-based awards to 55 of the 57 SFAs that were successful in the 30% NYS Initiative during the 2019-20 school year. Please direct specific questions regarding the Regional Coordinator Program to Cheryl Bilinski, cbt32@cornell.edu .
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FreshBites
SUMMER 2021
FreshBites
SUMMER 2021
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