FOOD | education
Plan Your Tee Time.
FUNDING FOR FRESH SNACKS Funding for the federal Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program expanded for three years, and is now growing with inflation. For the coming school year, Washington gets $5.46 million and Idaho gets $2.06 million. Elementary schools are selected based on the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
$166 $158 $164 $150 million
In millions:
$110 $100
$73 $49
$50
Source: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
’08-09 ’09-10 ’10-11 ’11-12 ’12-13 ’13-14
“fresh and free,” continued...
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38 INLANDER JUNE 6, 2013
ference was the enthusiasm — students in participating schools were more likely to agree that they like trying new fruits and vegetables. “For fruits, students in FFVP schools were more likely than students in non-FFVP schools to agree that they like most fruits and they like to try new fruits,” the report concluded. “There was also greater FFVP student agreement that they liked to try new kinds of vegetables.” Getting kids outside of their apples-and-bananas comfort zone is part of the fun. Idaho state suggestions include mangosteen, persimmon, romanesco, sea beans, cherimoya and ugli fruit. Ed Ducar, food services director for Coeur d’Alene schools, says that around Halloween they’ve served rambutan — a tropical fruit with a hairy-looking red exterior that when cut open resembles an eyeball. “It’s kind of a prickly-looking thing,” he says. But it’s not just about the exotic. Ducar tries to offer fruits and vegetables that kids can easily find at grocery stores and farmers markets, at affordable prices. Cost is a constraint for schools, just as it is for families — fresh blueberries may be delicious and touted as a “superfood,” but they’re also expensive. In the study, schools cited cost as the main reason for not serving fruits like cherries, mangoes and berries. Pineapple spears are a student favorite in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene schools, but they’re too expensive to offer frequently. Some vegetables are a harder sell — Brussels sprouts, asparagus, zucchini and squash, for example — but the program is overwhelmingly popular. When it started in Spokane schools, Wordell says, he couldn’t walk into a school without teachers stopping to say nice things about it. And he’s confident the effect will extend beyond the classroom. “In 20 years this will impact the food choices of these students and their families,” he says. n