A food revolution in Berkeley: fighting malnutrition and disease, teaching ecological literacy, and giving hope to family farmers begins with kids growing their own food - Center for Ecoliteracy Food Systems Project

Whole Earth, Spring, 2002 by Michael K. Stone

FSP discovered substantial obstacles to purchasing directly from local farmers. The food service had devolved so far into a heat-and-serve model that it had neither facilities nor trained chefs to prepare meals from fresh ingredients. Although fruits might be bought more cheaply at the farmers' market, the food service was geared to handling "units" of fruit in standardized sizes.

Large-scale replacement of food with locally grown, healthy alternatives wasn't an immediate prospect. "So we developed a strategy of mimicking traditional items with similar but more healthful alternatives," says Jered Lawson, FSP's former program coordinator. "FSP took on research that the food service should probably have conducted itself, but wasn't prepared to." FSP staff identified Newman's Own organic nacho chips as an acceptable alternative to Doritos, negotiating chargebacks and discounts from the manufacturer and distributor in order to afford superior chips with lower cholesterol and fewer preservatives. (FSP also experimented for a time with rice cakes; the kids liked them at first, but later started using them as Frisbees).

Working through a local farmer who bottles his own apple juice, FSP obtained bottled juice for $.18 a serving, versus the $.54 being paid for individual packages. Through such substitutions, FSP radically increased the fresh fruit offered in snacks.

SALAD BARS

In 1999, FSP heard about a successful program in Santa Monica featuring salad bars with fresh produce from local farmers' markets, and organized a field trip for FSP staff and food service officials.

The first salad bar, featuring food bought at the Berkeley Farmers' Market, opened in May 2000. Even after the novelty wore off, about a third of the children eating lunch, along with teachers and others, continued to choose the salad bar. Overall meal participation increased by about 20 percent. Three BUSD schools now have salad bars.

The farmers' market connection feeds into an FSP School to Farm Field Studies Program, directed by Melanie Okamoto, that takes students to farms, community gardens, and the farmers' market. It lifts the garden lessons to a larger scale, notes Fritjof Capra, "so students can see how systems work in the adult world." Lessons take on a personal note, putting a farmer's face on the food.

"Dear Farmer Al," wrote a student after a farm visit,

      I really enjoyed the trip to your farm. The best part for me was when we
   picked the cherries. I picked them for my grandmother in the hospital and
   she loved them, she didn't share them with the rest of the family....

      At first I thought organic meant that they didn't come from a grocery
   store, but now I know it means that the farmer doesn't use pesticides on
   fruit. Instead you use owls to eat gophers, bees to pollinate the trees,
   and ladybugs to eat the aphids.

      I think it's nice that you don't throw away the bad fruit. Instead you
   use it to make your jam and tarts. Next time I go to the farmers' market I
   will buy some jam.