Today is National Food Day!  We’re celebrating at Exeter High School this week with farmers, movies and a harvest dinner on Friday October 28. Students can sign up in the cafeteria or send a check made out for $10 to Exeter High School to Jeanne Pierce payable and send to 1 Blue Hawk Drive, Exeter, NH 03833. The cost is $10 per person.  Below is my tribute to all the great things going on at Exeter High School.

This past Saturday, I was invited to speak at the School Nutrition Association of  New Hampshire’s fall conference for food service staff and other state agency officials. My topic was how to get more greens onto the menu and I didn’t hold back. I brought beet greens, kale, chard, bok choy, turnips greens and was ready to “green” the cafeterias of New Hampshire.

My husband and daughter helped me set up and at 10:15 am I was ready to cook and preach the incredible nutritional value of greens.  My 25 minute session was one of four break out groups taking place at the same time including another one on knife skills. Participants would rotate between these sessions over two hours.

At about 10:16 one person showed up.  By 10:20 it was pretty clear that she was my audience. Yikes, I was devastated, but kept a stiff upper lip. I learned after my very short introduction, that the woman, Judy, was  in charge of reviewing all the state lunch programs for the state! I got my own private meeting – what a stroke of luck! I gave my spiel and cooked up some greens for her, and we had a very intimate talk about what’s going on in New Hampshire.  Luckily in the next three sessions nearly 100 people came to my session and I had a great day.

Judy told me how she makes dinner a priority at home and how much kids love to come to her house because she always has cut up fruit waiting and homemade meals. She’s a busy mom and her kids have sports, but she makes an effort to prepare a meal in the crock pot in the morning so when they all come home late from practice and work, that they have a warm meal waiting.

The question that faces us is how can the school lunch program encourage healthy eating habits at home?   As parents juggle work, life, kids, and spend less and less time to cook to cook at home – can the cafeteria provide a class room for kids and introduce them to new foods? Maybe get them to eat something that their parents can’t?

As parents, and teachers and food staff, do we sometimes close the door to this notion because kids say “no” once to something? Do we give up and say, oh well, I tried. My kid just doesn’t like vegetables? Do we give up too easy by limiting their exposure to new foods and not having a conversation about why these foods are important to our bodies and mind? And, our environment?

This last year, I’ve seen Jeanne Pierce, who heads up food services for all the Exeter schools put her money where her mouth is.  Jeanne has made the choice, which is not always the easy one, to bring in healthier food to Exeter schools. The schools serve kale chips (and yes, the kids love them!) make homemade salad dressings, pick fresh food from their community garden, and buy  fresh local produce every week from several local farms.

This week, as part of Food Week, she is serving some local food every day, is featuring famers at lunch every day to talk to the kids, and is hosting a harvest dinner (Friday at 5:30). The school is also hosting a showing of the movie Greenhorns  at an assembly to help show kids that getting back to “farming” is actually something that more and more young people are getting inspired to do.

I say “hats off” to Jeanne Pierce who is combating  complacency and embracing change, not just because the government is telling her, but because she knows it’s the right thing do to and that if we just put our minds to it, change can happen.  As president of the School Nutrition Association in New Hampshire this year her motto is “stand up for change” and she’s doing just that!

She’s thinking WAY outside the “lunch” box and looking at opportunities to not only buy her own food from the source, including beef from her a school cow.  She’s not saying, “kids won’ eat new things,” she’s saying “let’s try it” and see what happens. She’s showing leadership and bringing her staff on board to support the change, even if it means more work from them to peel potatoes, or cut up fresh carrots.

It’s important to have regulations, policies, and support from our government, but when it comes down to it, creativity doesn’t come in a box, or as a policy or as a directive. It comes from within. That’s where change begins.