Tour de D.C. School Food

As the D.C. Farm to School Network Director at Arcadia, I love it when school food friends from other districts come to town - it's a great chance to check in with some of my favorite schools and programs here in the District!  Last week, I took Doug Davis, Director of Food Service for Burlington, VT Public Schools and Julia Bauscher, Director of School & Community Nutrition Services in Louisville, KY on a tour of a few model DC school food programs.  Here's what we saw -

It all started with breakfast at CentroNia, a multi-cultural learning center that runs a host of educational programs for the community, including D.C. Bilingual Public Charter School.  Sofia Bustos, CentroNia's lovely Nutritionist, toured us around the colorful building, rooftop playground, and tiny basement kitchen where they produce over 1,000 meals each day from scratch.  We had yogurt, cereal, and fresh fruit for breakfast while Sofia told us about CentroNia's innovative programs that engage parents, teachers, students, and the entire school community in a culture of nutrition and wellness.

Breakfast at D.C. Bilingual - cereal, yogurt and fresh fruit

Sofia's enthusiasm and hospitality were reflected in the awesome nutrition posters, colorful student artwork and friendly staff at the school.  In fact, she was recently appointed Chilean Health Ambassador by the First Lady of Chile, Cecilia Morel. So Sofia is now an Adviser for Chile's national program “Elige Vivir Sano” (Choose to Live Healthy), which is similar to First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign.  Congratulations Sofia!

Sofia Bustos, CentroNia's Nutritionist, here with the First Lady of Chile Cecilia Morel

Our next stop was DC Central Kitchen's new Nutrition Lab - a 6,000 square foot facility that opened about a year ago as a production kitchen for the 5,000 meals DCCK produces each day for schools, shelters, and other social service providers.  DCCK's Local Initiatives and Procurement Coordinator Joelle Johnson led us on a tour, where we saw a giant 100-gallon drum of local apples being blended in to apple sauce, and hundreds of whole-wheat wraps being loaded up with fresh mixed greens and chicken salad. 

DCCK staff making applesauce from local apples!  Take our word for it, it smelled delicious.

Most of the employees at the Nutrition Lab were graduates of DCCK's Culinary Job Training program, which equips ex-offenders and homeless individuals with the skills they need to start fresh in the food service industry.  We also had a great chat with Ed Kwitowski, the Executive Chef for the school food service programs DCCK operates at 7 D.C. Public Schools, about some of the challenges they've faced and lessons they've learned from serving scratch-cooked healthy meals over a thousand low-income schoolchildren each day.

Our last stop - lunch!  We visited E.W. Stokes Public Charter School, where Stokes' Wellness Coordinator Trisha Nakano kindly told us about some of the exciting ways the school integrates health and wellness in to each child's learning experience.  For example, each year she coordinates the Taste of Stokes festival, a fall harvest celebration where students and families celebrate the bounty of their school garden and challenge students to "Think Globally, Act Locally." Trisha joined us for baked tilapia, kale chips (many of which came from Stokes' own school garden!), whole wheat rolls, chilled carrot curry soup, and salads from the salad bar. 

E.W. Stokes' salad bar - it tasted as good as it looked!

It was restaurant-quality food, and the kids were gobbling it up just as fast as we were.  Stokes' Chef Lisa Dobbs joined us - she's the brains behind the delicious recipes and smooth operations of their school meal program, which puts out breakfast, lunch, dinner, and family to-go meals for 320 students each day out of a teeny tiny kitchen.

Doug and I also got a quick peek at the Farm at Walker Jones, where we met with Farm Director Sarah Bernardi and got to see the wonderful things they're doing on about an acre of green space surrounded by downtown Washington, DC.

Many thanks to Sarah, Sofia, Joelle, Ed, Trisha and Lisa (and all of their staff) for the wonderful day!

Local Food is Joelle's Job Description

You know she's serious about local food, with the title "Local Initiatives and Procurement Coordinator" at DC Central Kitchen.  Since DCCK is one of our best organizational partners, and since Joelle Johnson is their amazing leader of the local food movement here in DC, we decided to learn a bit more about what she does...

Joelle, what is your role at DC Central Kitchen?
Mainly I am responsible for sourcing and procuring locally grown products for all of our programs – nearly 10,000 meals a day. Most of what I purchase goes into to the meals we provide for DC Public Schools. But a good portion of it also goes into the meals we send out to local shelters and into the food we prepare for catering events every week. I aim to purchase from family owned farms that use sustainable growing practices, working with them on crop planning and setting fair prices. Last year we spent nearly $115,000 on local products.

Joelle gleaning for produce!

In addition to procuring local food, I also manage two programs - Truck Farm and Healthy Corners. Truck Farm (in partnership with the USDA People’s Garden) is a mobile educational farm planted in the bed of a pick -up truck designed to bring a rural experience to urban students. DCCK uses Truck Farm as a tool to enhance the summer-enrichment programs that we provide meals for through our already established Healthy Returns program.

Healthy Corners is a pilot program that began in the fall of 2011. Healthy Corners works with corner store owners in low-income DC neighborhoods, considered to be food deserts, supplying them with fresh, healthy foods. Currently we are working with 30 stores in wards 4, 5, 7, and 8 supplying 15 different types of fresh produce and healthy snacks.

What might a typical day look like?
I spend most of my days jumping back and forth between meetings with community partners and giving tours to visiting groups to taking product inventory, data tracking and placing orders. Some of our farmers really love to chat so that can take a surprising amount of my time! (I get really excited when I find a farmer who prefers email!) But generally summers are spent placing orders, scheduling pick-ups and taking inventory, whereas winters are spent visiting farms, compiling program reports, and attending conferences.

Joelle doing Truck Farm activities with students

What is the most inspiring part of your job?
The best part about my job is positive feedback. Sometimes it comes from farmers who tell me that they appreciate our business because we pay fair prices and that we have helped them reduce their product waste or expand their operation. Sometimes it comes from customers who thank us for bringing Healthy Corners to their neighborhood so they don’t have to travel so far to find fresh produce. Other times it comes from seeing kids’ faces light up when they harvest and eat a cucumber from the truck or hold a worm that they dug out of the soil. My job is pretty fun!

If you were a fruit or vegetable, what would you be?
Well, I’d like be something sweet like a strawberry or blueberry because everyone loves those things, but I’d probably end up being something that is cheap, fits the nutritional guidelines for DC public schools and is easy to source in bulk quantity like butternut squash….only because I appreciate the convenience of produce that fits all 3 categories!

What's your favorite winter veggie dish?
Shiitake mushroom bacon!

Chipotle's going local with Arcadia!

We love good burritos here at Arcadia.  But that's not the only reason why we love the popular restaurant Chipotle Mexican Grill.  We've established a wonderful relationship with Chipotle, an organization with a dedication to "Food With Integrity" similar to our own.  Yes, it does includes free burritos (for our volunteers and special events).  But it goes so much farther than that!

Earlier this fall, Chipotle sponsored a DC-area wide fundraiser for Arcadia.  They donated half of all proceeds from burritos sold the evening of September 14th to Arcadia's farm to school programs - a whopping $15,000!  With these funds, we'll be able to expand Arcadia's farm field trips in the spring, and get our Mobile Market out to schools (complete with chef demonstrations and mock-farmers' market activities).

Chipotle also coordinated guacamole demos and film screenings "What's On Your Plate" in four schools during D.C. Farm to School Week in October.  They reached over 400 DC students and families with hand-on food education and community engagement around the issues of nutrition and sustainability. 

I already mentioned the awesome food - our volunteers on the farm take home "burrito bucks" after a hard day's work.  And for our events and activities, you can count on some delicious carnitas tacos or our favorite - the veggie burrito.  And while you're at the farm, check out the Chipotle Salsa Garden - complete with tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, garlic and onions.

Most recently, Chipotle was a top sponsor at the Vices that Made Virginia event, our rollicking fundraiser on the farm on November 6th (recap to come).  They hit the Estate sponsorship level of $5,000, again showing their strong support for Arcadia's mission and programs.

Chipotle, we can't thank you enough.  Your staff are incredible, your hearts are generous, and your values align so closely with Arcadia's own.  We're so excited to continue working with you as our programs grow and flourish!