NASHUA – The Farm to Table initiative has been picking up steam in the state over the last few years, encouraging restaurants to source their ingredients locally and to incorporate more wholesome food into their menus.

The state’s schools are now hopping on the wagon and are initiating Farm to School programs to bring locally sourced food to their cafeterias.

“I think students are very open and are very understanding to eating local and eating sustainable,” said David Quimby, culinary arts teacher at the Nashua Technology Center. “We have great service systems in the schools.”

Quimby, who teaches students from Nashua, Hollis, Litchfield and Merrimack, brought his seniors to the Hospitality Center at Southern New Hampshire University on a recent Saturday to compete in the college’s third annual Farm to School Healthy Recipe Challenge.

“The challenge is for students to come up with recipes that meet certain nutritional guidelines, cost guidelines and still taste good,” he said. “My students made a butternut squash macaroni and cheese.”

Participants had to create a healthy school or preschool side dish that followed current nutritional guidelines and contained locally grown vegetables. They received extra points if they incorporated New Hampshire-grown orange vegetables, including carrots, sweet potatoes and squash.

“They had to be able to easily convert the formula to serve 60 so it could be an item that could be served in the cafeteria,” Quimby said.

Quimby’s students placed third out of 12 teams, but Quimby said the knowledge about healthy foods and local products that the students took away from the competition will be valuable in serving the entire school district.

“I think the challenge is in the cafeterias where they’re under such budget and time constraints that it’s difficult, and it could be more costly to be serving these things,” he said.

Although Nashua has been making an effort to incorporate healthy lunchtime choices, Quimby said there is still room for improvement.

“I see more creative use of the fresh vegetables, fruits and vegetables and less manufactured food,” he said. “Students get a pretty good choice.”

Quimby said a difficulty comes in providing food options that are enticing to students and can be served within the usual 22-minute school lunch period.

“I think it’s going to have to be foods that they can eat in that short period of time that appeal to them,” he said. “Collard greens are not going to be highly accepted up here, but the kids will eat salad, they’ll eat corn, they would eat green beans.”

Emily Hoyt can be reached at
594-6402 or ehoyt@nashuatelegraph.com.