Visit Jamie’s Food Rev page for my article covering some important lessons learned while on the road.
Cheers, all!
-SS
“Hey! Are you that girl? The girl who rode from Oregon?” asks a skinny kid as I wheel my bike and trailer onto Carp High’s campus. “Yup.” I answer. ”I bought a road bike because of you!” he hollers as he rounds the corner, rushing to reach his class before the tardy bell. And that was the start of my great day in Carpinteria.
Highlights from my visit include a farm that produces food for the kitchen, administrators who are passionate about health and real food, enthusiastic & creative food services staff and motivated students. One day on campus gave me great insight into the culture at this school and I was mightily impressed with both the changes that have occurred and their vision for the future.
Construction is underway for a brand-new Culinary Arts classroom that will feature full commercial kitchen stations and a large accompanying classroom. The teacher hopes to move into her new digs by mid-winter. I can’t wait to learn what meals will emerge from this resource! Carp High’s school garden is huge and magnificent. Fruit trees, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, kale, flowers and so much more! Compost plays a key role in the farm’s system and compost tea is always brewing in the shed to help facilitate plant growth. Produce from the garden supplies the daily, beautiful salad bar and I enjoyed a gorgeous plate of greens and veggies for my mid day meal. The kitchen staff proudly showed me around the kitchen and their enthusiasm for the food that they prepare is palpable. If only every school kitchen contained this much passion! Another highlight of my visit was a conversation with a student who recently started a bike club on campus. He was curious to learn about fundraisers and potential events they could host.
This combination of bike love and real food made Carp High a great stop on the SFT. Big thanks to all the students and staff!
Posted in SFT
Tagged Carpinteria California, Carpinteria High School, Cooking, Culinary Arts, Food, Foodservice, School Garden
What do wholesome meals and test scores have in common?
Quite a bit, according to public health research. One neat part about managing a blog is that I have access to every search engine query that directs a visitor to my site. I have noticed a remarkable number of Google searches on the topic of healthy eating and academic performance – an encouraging trend! Below, for interested folks, is a quick round-up of research and resources that should help to explicate the relationship between good food and a sharp mind. Enjoy!
Hi everyone! The biggest event of the week in my world was the receipt of the School Food Tour Logo… Below is the final version:
And here’s my top news picks of the week:
School Food Challenges: A report from Chicago schools highlight the issue of plate waste
Hilarious: (yet sad because it’s often true) Xtranormal cartoon about the food industry and nutrition, “Are you drinking food industry Koolaid?”
Physical Inactivity Map: The CDC released a county-by-county map indicating percentage of physically inactive adults in the US.
Ed Bruske (aka ‘The Slow Cook’): Who will pay for healthier school food?
Inside a school cafeteria: A great interview with Jan Poppendieck that looks at who makes decisions inside the kitchen
School Breakfast Toolkit: Share Our Strength provides a page of excellent resources for teachers and schools to “help close the breakfast gap”
What a great sticker! I picked it up at the Food Justice Conference in Eugene, Oregon over President’s Day weekend. The meetings explored “the history and future of our food system with a focus on sustainability, equity and community”. It was an inspirational three days of conversations with a huge variety of professionals – from farmers to academicians, everyone had a place at the table.
My favorite session was a talk entitled “New Media and Food Activism” with Naomi Starkman from Civil Eats. The discussion ranged from Twitter to 50 Cent (a mainstream Rap artist for you non-pop culture folks… don’t worry, I didn’t know who he was either!) to farmer internet access. It also turned me onto this little gem:
The main message of the conference: define food justice for you and then create a strategy towards achieving this aim. I have an ongoing definition of food justice in my notebook… The current draft states:
“Food justice is open knowledge of where food comes from and available resources to grow one’s own, along with equitable access to healthy food that is procured from a system that follows responsible cultivation and fair compensation for its workers.”
What’s your definition of Food Justice?
Last thought: The human factor – passion – is our most powerful asset!
Well, it’s my birthday today… And although I usually struggle to put my computer away and take a break from School Food Tour planning, when a special personal holiday coincides with a 3 day snow accumulation of 45 inches (seriously!) the draw of powdery play time overwhelms me. Below are the rosy cheeks of one happy birthday girl.
Onto business! I’m trying a new format for sharing all the neat news tidbits that I read: ONE comprehensive weekly post. So here goes…
Weekly News Update
Again, feedback is welcome – would you rather read a bunch of consistent short articles or get them all at once?
Posted in News
Tagged Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food, Health, Nutrition, School meal
The School Food Tour began as a 5,000+ mile self-supported bicycle tour to inspire and energize students and communities to create healthier school environments. Along her route, Sara gathered best practices in school food, educational gardens and food policy. The SFT will soon expand to include additional riders covering more regions of the country. Stay tuned!
Current location: Houghton, MI (Made it!)
Mileage count: 5,200 miles
here to help with Tour expenses.
Sara is pedaling as a 
athlete. Visit her athlete page to join her in the fight against cancer.
Thank you for your support!
