Food and Nutrition Services proudly celebrates Earth Day on April 22 and everyday! As a large food service organization, we do our best to make everyday Earth Day. Sustainability is important to us so we have eliminated plastic straws, eliminated utensils wrapped in plastic and done our part by purchasing compostable utensils and containers as much as possible. We are also excited to announce that we are joining the Organic School Food 2023 Cohort with Friends of the Earth. Friends of the Earth will connect CUSD Food & Nutrition Services with local, organic farmers to procure organic produce for our school meal programs. CUSD Food & Nutrition Services is planning on serving a special organic fruit and organic veggie monthly from August 2023-May 2024. Stay tuned!
Fresh and vibrant California grown strawberries have been available at school sites in April! 90% of the strawberries grown in the U.S. originate in California. Generations of dedicated farmers continue to produce their crops in healthy, sustainable ways. In fact, more organic strawberries are grown in California than anywhere in the world. Keep an eye out for strawberries at school this month!
Celebrate School Lunch Hero Day on Friday, May 5, 2023! School Lunch Hero Day provides an opportunity to acknowledge the creative, forward thinking, hardworking, reliable, dedicated, and unstoppable heroes and heroines at your school. They are leaders in the nation in the monumental Universal Meals Program movement. It is because of their commitment to student health and desire to improve learning outcomes for our children that CUSD is able to offer every student a quality, nutritious breakfast and lunch each and every school day! Create homemade thank you or appreciation cards to share with your favorite school lunch heroes.
Food and Nutrition Services is excited to add five new elementary specials for the month of May:
- May 2 Lunch: Gluten Free Chicken and Chile Verde Tamale – Masa filled with chicken and chile verde filling. Wrapped in an authentic corn husk.
- May 5 Lunch: Fresh Taco Salad with Tostito Scoops – Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with taco salad! The taco salad is crafted in our central kitchen with spinach and salad greens, taco seasoned beef, black beans, corn, cheddar cheese and pico de gallo served with Ken’s Ranch and Tostitos Scoops made with whole ground corn!
- May 5 Breakfast: Pan Dulce Concha – Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a whole grain Pan Dulce Concha! Pan Dulce is a colorful Mexican sweet bread traditionally served at breakfast.
- May 16 Lunch: Chicken and Cheese Pupusa with Salsa & Curtido: A pupusa is a thick griddle cake or flatbread from El Salvador and Honduras, made with cornmeal, similar to the Colombian and Venezuelan arepa. It is filled with meat, beans, cheese or veggies. It is served with curtido, a Salvadoran cabbage slaw or relish that is made with cabbage, red onion, carrot, oregano, and vinegar. Our curtido is made from scratch in our central kitchen!
- Pork Tonkatsu Sandwich with Asian Slaw: Tonkatsu is a breaded pork cutlet from Japan. Enjoy a breaded pork cutlet on a hoagie roll with sweet and savory Asian slaw made in our central kitchen.