Register a Team for the 2023 Farm to School Cook-off!

(Pictured: Caleb Pratt & Gina Bailey from Team Son-Day, competing in last year’s Westbrook Regional Cook-off)

Registration is open for the annual Maine Department of Education, Child Nutrition Farm to School Cook-off! The event will be held in the Spring of 2023. The cook-off is a statewide culinary competition for teams of school nutrition professionals and students to promote local foods in school meals. This voluntary competition is made available to all school districts in Maine.

The cook-off involves three regional competitions that take place in locations across the state and a final competition in the Child Nutrition Culinary Classroom, where the top teams compete to determine the Farm to School Cook-off Champion. Each team, consisting of one student and one school nutrition employee, is tasked to prepare a breakfast and lunch meal using specific recipe guidelines and time restrictions and will present to a panel of judges.

At least three local ingredients and one USDA food must be used in each meal. Local oats and local carrots will be used as “challenge” ingredients in the competition this year. All recipes will later be shared in a Maine farm-to-school cookbook to be used in future school meal programs. To view the 2022 Cookbook and prior years please visit the Maine Child Nutrition website.

TIMELINE AT A GLANCE

January 13, 2022 – Team Registration Due (click here for registration link)
Date TBD- Mandatory Team Meeting
February 17, 2023 – Recipes Due to Child Nutrition State Office
March 27- April 7, 2023- Regional competitions take place (location TBD)
April 7, 2023 – Finalists Announced
April 25, 2023 – Cook-Off Finals at the Child Nutrition DOE Culinary Classroom!

Interested school districts can find more information and the link to register on the Maine Child Nutrition website. The registration deadline is January 13, 2023. For more information on Maine’s Farm and Sea to School program, visit https://www.maine.gov/doe/farmtoschool.

For questions about the Farm-to-School Cook-off, contact Maine DOE Child Nutrition Supervisor, Stephanie Stambach at stephanie.stambach@maine.gov.

2022 Cook-off Champions- McMahon Tigers Alain Lemesse & Alicia Smith — 2022 Cook-off Champions- McMahon Tigers, Alain Lemesse & Alicia Smith

Maine DOE’s Child Nutrition Team Hosts 45 School Food Service Directors for Annual Fall Info Meeting

On Tuesday, October 18th, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) Child Nutrition Team staff were thrilled to be joined by 45 Food Service Directors from schools across Maine, for the first time in over two years, for the SY23 Fall Info Meeting.

Discussions centered around additional funding sources for nutrition programs, best practices for the Federal nutrition programs such as the After School Snack Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, Breakfast After the Bell, Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) At-Risk, and the Farm and Sea to School program.

To break up the day, Representatives from C. Caprara and Hatch Jennings gave an equipment demonstration of Delfield Shelley Serving Lines equipment.

The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health: Calling Maine’s Anti-Hunger Advocates

Join other educators and advocates to learn about the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health and review federally recognized innovations & data-driven solutions. Then, join with local multidisciplinary teams to collaborate on opportunities specific to your region and make a commitment to eliminating disparities.

Date: September 28, 2022
Time: 3:30pm
Facilitator: Rebekah Sousa

Outcomes:

You will be able to define food security
You will consider the 5 Pillars of the conference and apply them to the State of Maine, Counties, and/or Local Communities.
You will have models for strengthening food security within communities
You will network with like-minded individuals across sectors and specialties to create more holistic and thoughtful approaches for the specific challenges in Maine.

Audience: School staff, administration, and school stakeholders

For further questions, reach out to Rebekah Sousa at Rebekah.Sousa@maine.gov.

Bridging the Gap Between Rural Farms and School Nutrition: Maine Kicks Off First Farm and Sea to School Institute

The Maine Department of Education served alongside many state-wide partners in organizing Maine’s first Farm and Sea to School Institute which launched last month bringing together teams from 3 different school districts at the Ecology School in Saco.

The event is the kick-off of a year-long opportunity in which the 3 districts will develop a values-based, school-wide farm & sea to school action plan that integrates curriculum, local food sourcing, youth voice, equity and inclusion, and family and community connections, all unique to their school community. The 3 districts participating in the first institute are MSAD 17 (Oxford Hills), RSU 22 (Hampden), and RSU 89 (Katahdin). They applied for the opportunity in January 2022.

The institute was hosted as a collaborative effort among farm to school practitioners, advocates, and supporters throughout Maine who are all part of Maine’s Farm and Sea to School Network (MFSN).

The 3 teams are comprised of school nutrition staff, educators, and students who will be working to co-develop and implement agriculture, gardening, and/or nutrition related programming at their school. The student members on each team are UMaine college mentors trained in youth leadership via 4H STEM Ambassador Program – this component of the Institute is to both incorporate student voice and provide an extended learning opportunity for Maine students.

The 3-day kick-off event was a chance for the teams to come together for the first time and start planning, have the opportunity to meet the other teams, and begin work with state-wide partners and coaches. They participated in a wide array of activities including learning about planting specific crops that are easy to grow without maintenance. Given that schools are typically out of session during prime garden-growing season, this option allows for a “set it and forget it” style of growing vegetables.

Richard Hodges from ReTreeUS

Richard Hodges from ReTreeUS, a nonprofit that plants orchards and provides education and resources to schools specifically, showcases seed packets with pumpkin, Mexican sunflower, and popping corn seeds, among others, which he explained will help school staff grow enough food to be used in school cafeterias without a lot of maintenance. Hodges also showed participants how to plant a peach tree during his workshop and tour of the gardens.

Other workshops included learning about Incorporating Local Agriculture into Classroom Curricula, Building Sustainability through the district budget, finding local foods, how to promote school efforts, food security, and an institute-wide workshop with Racial Equity & Justice Organization, among many other workshops. The three-day event also provided lodging, locally sourced meals, and plenty of team time for participants to engage in conversation and work together to begin their action plans, all while enjoying the serene Ecology School campus.

Following the kick-off event, the districts teams will continue to engage in workshops designed around school specific roles throughout the year and continue work with an experienced coach from the Maine Farm to School Network to develop their school-wide farm & sea to school action plan.

Funded by a USDA Service-Learning Grant, the MFSN group is working to secure funding for future Institutes. Read more about it here. Pending more funding, the Farm and Sea to School Institute expects to open applications for year-two of the institute in January 2023. Read more about the application and selection process here.

WEBINAR: The Role of School Nutrition Directors in School Safety Efforts

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools and its Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center will host a Webinar on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET. This Webinar will highlight the role of school nutrition directors in school safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness activities, including emergency operations plan (EOP) development.

The objectives of this 60-minute Webinar are to

Demonstrate the importance of a collaborative planning team, as outlined in Step 1 of the six-step planning process detailed in the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
Discuss the role that school nutrition directors play in implementing the National Preparedness System mission areas before, during, and after an emergency.
Reinforce how school nutrition directors can enhance EOP development and serve as key stewards in the efforts around food contamination outbreaks, continuity of operations, recovery, and more.
Share relevant resources to be used by school nutrition directors and core planning teams.

Register on the REMS TA Center Website to participate in the Webinar!

Presenters:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service
- Charlsia Fortner, Chief, Food Safety Branch
- Brian McCall, Director, Office of Emergency Management
REMS TA Center
- Alison Curtis, Director of Information and Product Management

Web Chat

Immediately following the Webinar, you are invited to participate in a Twitter Chat where presenters will continue to answer your questions. No Twitter account is necessary to view questions, only to pose questions and engage in tweets. Follow @remstacenter and tune in at 1:00 p.m. ET on September 13.

Questions

Contact the REMS TA Center Help Desk at 1-855-781-REMS [7367] or info@remstacenter.org from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. Can’t make the live event? This Webinar will be archived on the REMS TA Center’s Website within 7 business days.

Want to Bring Local Food to Students in your Community this Summer?

Summer means fresh, local food and we are lucky to live in a state with so many wonderful farms to support in our communities! Bringing the farm to your school is easy with Harvest of the Month (HOM), and the Child Nutrition Program has FREE promotional and educational material to help make this happen! Beautiful posters, fact sheets with recipes, stickers and more will be mailed to you at no cost. Maybe your school has a garden bursting with summer squash and cucumbers (the HOM highlighted ingredients for July and August), or perhaps you have a family recipe using summer produce that you know kids in your community would love.

Sample promotional materials!

Reach out to your district’s School Nutrition Director to partner on this great opportunity to, whether it be through summer meal sites or summer school! For more information contact Robin.Kerber@maine.gov or visit https://www.maine.gov/doe/harvestofthemonth/summer.

Media Release: Maine Child Nutrition Programs Continue Feeding Children Beyond School Year with Summer Food Service Program Hot Lunch Summer

As the school year comes to an end, Maine children can access nutritious meals through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program, administered by the Maine Department of Education (DOE). These meals are available at hundreds of sites across Maine and will be listed on the Maine DOE’s Hot Lunch Summer website.

“No child should worry about going hungry when the school year ends,” said Education Commissioner Pender Makin. “Hot Lunch Summer ensures that Maine children continue to receive the healthy, nutritious meals they rely on during the school year and we thank the schools and organizations that have stepped up to make the distribution of these meals possible.”

The Summer Food Service Program may be offered statewide in areas or at sites where more than 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced meal benefits under the National School Lunch Program or where census track data supports the need. Eligible sponsoring organizations include schools, nonprofit residential summer camps, government agencies, and tax-exempt organizations including faith-based organizations.

The Maine DOE launched a statewide ad campaign to raise awareness that the Summer Food Service Program exists and clearly explain the logistics of where, when, and how Maine children and adolescents can access complementary meals. The multi-media campaign includes a fun, original song entitled ‘Hot Lunch Summer’ for broadcast radio, an accompanying sing-along video in several lengths including a 30-second broadcast and streaming television ad, a series of colorful shareable graphics for social media, and a series of printed materials for distribution at schools and meal sites. The campaign, which will run through July, is expected to generate more than 5.25 million impressions.

To find nearby Summer Meal sites, please visit www.hotlunchsummer.com, or text “Summer Meals” to (914)342-7744. Information will be available mid-June.

For more information about the Maine DOE’s Summer Food Service Program, contact adriane.ackroyd@maine.gov, call 592-1722 or visit https://www.maine.gov/doe/schools/nutrition/programs/sfsp

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In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible State or local Agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
(1)       mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
(2)       fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
(3)       email:
program.intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

The Maine Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, religion, ancestry or national origin.

Complaints of discrimination must be filed at the office of the Maine Human Rights Commission, 51 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333-0051. If you wish to file a discrimination complaint electronically, visit the Human Rights Commission website at https://www.maine.gov/mhrc/file/instructions and complete an intake questionnaire. Maine is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Portland Public Schools Developing Culturally Important School Lunch Menu

The Portland Public Schools Food Service Department, in partnership with local nonprofits and consultants, is working to introduce culturally important menu items to the school lunch options served at the district’s high schools.

This spring, students at Deering, Casco Bay, and Portland high schools are taste-testing food items adapted from traditional Central African cuisine and providing feedback that will help the district decide if the new food items will be incorporated onto the high school lunch menu for next school year. Another goal of the project is to encourage more student engagement and participation in school lunch.

This project is funded by Full Plates, Full Potential, and led by Food Service Director Jane McLucas and local food justice nonprofit Cultivating Community. It is being implemented by several community partners that include FoodCorps, Cumberland County Food Security Council (CCFSC), Good Shepherd Food Bank, and the University of Southern Maine (USM).

“We are Maine’s largest and most diverse school district, and this project is an important – and delicious – way to help us acknowledge and celebrate our diversity,” said Superintendent Xavier Botana. “All our students should have the opportunity to enjoy a wider variety of culturally diverse menu items, which could encourage more students to participate in our nutritious school lunch program. We are very grateful to the wide variety of community partners working with us on this and other projects to ensure food security for all our students.”

This initiative was born from Food Fuels Learning, a network of school and community partners working to build food security in the Portland Public Schools. It is made possible due to the recipe development work done by Khadija Ahmed and Chef Samantha Cowens-Gasbarro with Westbrook Public Schools’ Nutrition Director Mary Emerson.

Ahmed is the owner-operator of Food For All African Mobile Market and the Community Impact Manager for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Good Shepherd Food Bank. Cowens-Gasbarro is the executive chef for Healthy School Recipes and a school nutrition consultant. These two adapted traditional Central African cuisine into meals that meet federal nutrition guidelines. Replicating the recipes developed in Westbrook, Ahmed and Cowens-Gasbarro are now working with district high school cafeteria staff to test similar recipes in Portland, while also educating staff about the importance of cultural representation in school food.

Food service staff are learning how to cook these new dishes this spring. Every high school student in the district will also have the opportunity to try and provide feedback on potential menu items. This work aims for students to see more familiar dishes offered at school and encourage higher participation in school meals – a proven strategy for increasing food security and reducing stigma around accessing these nutritious foods.

FoodCorps Service Member and Deering High School graduate Mercia Ckaba-Thomas created posters to educate students about the event: “We share a bond through food that creates better connections between cultures, and celebrates the many differences that exist in the Portland community.”

The first taste test took place on March 24. A meal of smashed kidney beans, spiced beef, and cabbage slaw was offered to students, with great success. Taste test coordinators Mercia Ckaba-Thomas (FoodCorps), Zoe Grodsky (CCFSC), Lily Chaleff (Cultivating Community) and Cowens-Gasbarro offered samples and collected feedback from over 250 students with the support of students from USM Professor Jamie Picardy’s “Food, Power, and Social Justice” class and Food Fuels Learning (FFL) high school interns, Anna Behuniak (Portland) and Leaticia Hannah (Deering).

“I would absolutely be more interested in school lunch, especially if this dish was served.” reported one Casco Bay student. Other recipes expected to be tested are chickpeas and chicken over jollof rice and a chicken and spinach stew. A second student taste test is slated for May 19.

In addition to voting and short-form feedback on the day of the taste tests, students are able to sign up to participate in one-hour focus groups. These sessions aim to gather more in-depth insights on cultural representation in school meals and how to better create an inclusive cafeteria environment that is reflective of the diverse student body here in Portland. The three focus groups are coordinated by Kristina Kalolo (CCFSC) along with facilitation training and support for the FFL interns so they can lead their peers in these conversations.

Professor Picardy’s USM students will conduct data analysis of the feedback to help inform the next stages of the project. Youth leadership and youth voice are centered in each step as an important part of the long-term success of this work. Last year, FFL interns conducted a survey on school meals that received feedback from over 800 students. A main takeaway was that there is a strong desire for more culturally representative and culturally important foods in school meals. This project is an extension of the findings that emerged from this student-led research.

Project members Chaleff, Kalolo, and Cowens-Gasbarro recently presented at a Maine Farm to School Network meeting about this work, with the hope that other districts across the state will be inspired and take on similar work to build more equitable and representative school meals. To learn more about how this work unfolds, you can subscribe to the FFL newsletter at foodfuelslearning.org and follow Food Fuels Learning on Facebook.

If the project is successful at the high school level, the district would consider adding culturally important menu items in the middle and elementary school lunch program in the future.

Lewiston Nutrition Team Wins Farm to School Cook-Off

Nutrition Teams representing RSU 54, RSU 22 and Lewiston Public Schools squared off in the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) 2022 Farm to School Cook-off finals competition recently. The competition took place in the Child Nutrition Culinary Classroom in Augusta and was concurrently livestreamed on the Maine DOE YouTube channel.

Hosted annually by the Maine DOE’s Child Nutrition Office, the cook-off is a statewide culinary competition for teams of school nutrition professionals and students to promote local foods in school meals. This voluntary competition is available to all school districts in Maine and consists of three regional competitions and a final competition held in Augusta.

During the final round, the teams whipped up some great breakfast and lunch meals utilizing three local ingredients and one USDA food in each meal. As an added challenge, the teams were tasked to incorporate local buckwheat flour, donated by Buchard Family Farms, and local beets, donated by Dig Deep Farm, into their breakfast and lunch meals, respectively.

RSU 54 Team’s Lunch Dish

RSU 22 Team’s Lunch Dish

Lewiston Team’s Lunch Dish

Congratulations to Lewiston Public Schools for being crowned the 2022 Farm to School Cook-off Champion! They will receive a personalized plaque as well as $1,000 prize money to be used towards school kitchen equipment, both donated from Cambro Manufacturing. For breakfast, they used buckwheat two different ways; making buckwheat granola, and a buckwheat flour biscuit. For lunch, they made a soft chicken taco with cilantro rice, and used beets two ways in a flavorful salad and salsa.

A great day was had by all! All of the teams recipes from this year will be compiled and put into a 2022 Farm to School Cook-book and shared with schools across the state.

School Nutrition Teams from RSU 54 and RSU 12 Square off at First Regional Event of Maine DOE Farm to School Cook-Off

The RSU 12 Palermo Panthers and RSU 54 Team Son-day squared off in the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) first regional Farm to School Cook-off on March 23rd. The competition was held at the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center and is the first of three regional competitions that will take place this month, sponsored by the DOE’s Child Nutrition Office.

The school teams, consisting of one school nutrition professional and one student, were tasked with creating a breakfast and lunch meal using three local ingredients, including buckwheat flour as the breakfast “challenge” ingredient and beets as the lunch “challenge” ingredient, as well as one USDA food.

Mike Flynn and Ben Bragg from the Palermo Panthers cooked up a breakfast “paco”, which consisted of egg and cheese rolled into a buckwheat flour pancake.

Gina Bailey and her son Caleb Pratt from Team Son-day whipped up a breakfast flower waffle using buckwheat flour, and presented their dish in the shape of a flower with fruit as the pedals and stem. Both teams created a beet smoothie, using a kid-friendly approach to a less familiar vegetable.

RSU 54 breakfast flower waffle

Gina and Caleb from RSU 54

For lunch, the Palermo Panthers made “muchos tacos” using various proteins, served on top of a homemade buckwheat flour tortilla, with a beet/carrot slaw on the side. Team Son-day cooked grilled chicken with red flannel hash, a buckwheat biscuit, and heart shaped watermelon on the side.

Gina handing her breakfast plate to the judges

Team Son-day, who has been competing in the cook-off for several years, walked away with the win. They dedicated this event to their late mother and grandmother, and the dishes were specially crafted with her in mind.

A great day was had by all! Following two more regional cookoffs set for March 29th and March 31st, RSU 54 will advance, along with winning teams from the remaining regional cookoffs, to the finals round which will take place at the Child Nutrition Culinary Classroom on April 26th.