The Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Portland

This post is by our friend Julie Negrin M.S.  Julie has the training of a certified nutritionist and the culinary experience of a chef. She has been teaching kids and adults how to cook for over 10 years. Visit her website www.julienegrin.com and look for her blog, My Kitchen Nutrition, coming soon!

Conferences don’t always conjure up the word “exciting” but this conference was exactly that and beyond. The 4th Annual Farm to Cafeteria conference was held in Portland, Oregon from March 19-21. The hosts did a fantastic job of putting together a wide range of informative sessions including field trips around the Portland area. Rather than spending the entire conference in the hotel, participants visited school gardens, farms, kitchens, and produce distributors and spoke directly with the amazing pioneers in the field, literally. The organizers also thoughtfully included youth participants and gave them the stage at the opening plenary to share their personal experiences as activists.

There were so many compelling workshops that I had trouble deciding which ones to attend. I ended up hearing Thomas Forster and Ed Cooney from School Food FOCUS review the Child Nutrition Act, which is up for renewal this year. Since this only happens every five years or so, this is a crucial time for schools, food, and nutrition. Fortunately, President Obama has already shown his support by proposing a $1 billion per year increase for child nutrition programs including school lunches. This move is unprecedented by any other president in history.

I live in Seattle so I attended the Western Region session where I heard representatives from different states highlight innovative programming. Montana raised $18,000 for schools in just one fundraiser by selling “Healthy Montana” food products. California just launched a new site www.cafarmtoschool.org so that others can learn about the farm to school program they’ve had in place for over 12 years. Washington, Idaho and Hawaii also shared impressive landmark programming.

As a cooking instructor (and nutritionist), I was excited to attend the Experimental Education and Curriculum Development session. A culinary institute donated their kitchens to conduct a pilot training program for Oregon State’s school kitchen staff to promote the use of local foods and cooking from scratch as much as possible. This is an integral piece to the farm to school endeavors since we need the enthusiasm and input of school personnel in order to introduce sustainable foods into the lunch programs. The Oregon kitchen staff members loved the training, which happened just a few weeks ago, and were eager to try the new recipes they personally developed back at their schools.
There were many other workshops I wasn’t able to attend but I wish I could have: Growing Farm to School Programs, Greening Your Cafeteria, Building Relationships through School Gardens, Rooting the Farmer in the Farm to School Movement, and a lot more.

And it wouldn’t be a food conference without a great last meal – the University of Portland generously opened up their cafeteria to conference participants for dinner. And lest you think we were eating corn dogs and tater tots, rest assured, I could have eaten at least 25 meals in that cafeteria without repeating the same food combinations. While we listened to the fabulous Joan Dye Gussow give an enlightening talk on whole foods, we feasted on Indian “tapas,” a 20 foot long salad bar, and more traditional offerings of steamed broccoli, chicken and pasta. I’m thinking of applying to school there just so I can eat in the cafeteria on a daily basis.

For more information on farm to school and school lunches, visit the conference hosts’ websites:
Community Food Security Coalition, The National Farm to School Network, School Food FOCUS, Real Food Challenge.

For more information, visit the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) site.