Exposing Richmond schoolkids to butternut squash
Butternut squash is on the school menu, and the kids love it!
Channel 10’s latest “exposé” is how local schools are “forcing” students to try healthy foods…and they’re loving them!
According to Barbara Morse Silva’s story, Richmond Elementary School’s Local Food Ambassador Program is trying to get kids to try new foods.
“We started the buzz a couple of days ago,” Principal Sharon Martin told Morse. “We’ve been doing morning announcements for the last couple of days getting the children ready, giving them some background knowledge about what butternut squash is. How it’s grown.”
The program is a partnership between food service provider Aramark, the Rhode Island Healthy Schools Coalition and Farm Fresh RI.
“We asked them to help us today because we want to know if it tastes good,” said Patricia Roth, a program associate with Farm Fresh RI. “We say, you know, we need to let the farmers know if they should keep growing it.”
So, the kids did just that, with some of them giving the samples the sniff test first, while others dove right in.
“It’s yummy,” said one of the students.
“It was awesome,” said another.
Visit Channel 10’s website for the whole story, the newscast, and a recipe for orange glazed butternut squash with dried cranberries.
