Students enjoy ‘California Thursdays’ menu

FALLBROOK – On March 17, William H. Frazier School took part in a district-wide celebration of locally-produced foods that are served in Fallbrook elementary school cafeterias every Thursday, highlighting “what local looks like.” The day's special menu at Frazier, from farm to lunch tables, included California free range herb chicken and California brown rice, California strawberry yogurt, and muffin tops from a local bakery.

The “Super Salad Bar” special contained local kale mango salad with queso fresco, organic greens, local avocados, Fallbrook dried fruit mix, Fallbrook sugar snap peas, and California tangerines. Vendors from Sunrise Produce, Solutions Farms, and Cal-Tropics set up displays and shared samples of fruits and vegetables with the students and staff, including produce from around the globe.

Schools in the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District (FUESD) are participating in a healthy approach to school food, serving freshly-prepared meals made with locally-grown products. It is part of an expanding statewide program called “California Thursdays” in which California food is served to California students.

FUESD began this program in 2015 and now serves California-sourced meals to its students every Thursday during the regular school year.

The district’s Child Nutrition Services Department believes cooking from scratch rather than just providing heat-and-serve meals is the right thing to do for its students. "California Thursdays" is a win-win for schools and students, local family farms and producers, and the environment. In addition to providing fresh and delicious meals to students, it boosts their health and readiness to learn, improves the district’s budget, strengthens the local agricultural economy, and cuts carbon emissions.