When a group of students at St. Bonaventure’s College approached their teacher Chris Peters, asking for a wider variety of healthy options in the cafeteria, he got in touch with Sarah Ferber, Education Manager with Food First NL.
Working together, Food First NL, St. Bonaventure's College, Lester’s Farm, Chartwells Food Services, and Farm to Cafeteria Canada successfully implemented the first “Farm to School Salad Bar” in Newfoundland & Labrador. It launched in the spring of 2015.
The self-serve, all-you-can-eat salad bar allows students to pick from a variety of fruits, vegetables, and dressings. As much produce as possible comes from Lester’s Farm, and it changes with the season to ensure consistent freshness, variety, and availability of healthy offerings.
Peters said one of the main ideas behind the program is to get kids thinking about food — where it comes from and how it’s grown. St. Bonaventure also hosts a composting program to divert organic waste, and a school garden that produces food for a local food bank.
“The only way for us to counteract the notion that Newfoundland cannot grow its own food is to celebrate and eat locally grown food. We need to do this publicly. It needs to be celebrated. And the salad bar program is a vehicle to do this. ”
Farm to Cafeteria Canada is Seeking 3 More Schools in NL to Adopt A Similar Program
Our province is home to hundreds of farms. Collectively, they harvest a rich variety of produce from garden staples like carrots and potatoes, to fresh greens, herbs, and berries. These farms, located province-wide, provide plenty of potential partners for schools interested in adopting a Farm to School Salad Bar Program similar to that of St. Bonaventure's.
Farm to Cafeteria Canada is actively accepting applications for this program, and will provide up to $10,000 to help a successful applicant establish the program in their school.
Grant applications are due March 31st. To read the guidelines on how to apply, click here. For the application form, click here. Check out the website here.
