The Slow Food USA Blog

Opportunities for Students: Two Contests and a Conference about Healthy School Food

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by intern Julia Landau

Right now, the National Farm to School Network is running two contests for grade school and college students, and has its fifth National Farm to Cafeteria Conference on its way. These are all great opportunities for Slow Food members who work with local schools, and for anyone and everyone interested in getting healthier food into schools and creating jobs in local farm economies.

The first contest asks K-12 and college students to record a video that shows what the phrase “real food” means to them. Farm to School poses three questions:

1 – What does real food mean to you?
2 - How does what we eat affect our culture, health, economy, or environment?
3 – Why should your cafeteria start or continue buying local food?

In answering these questions, the film can be anywhere from thirty seconds to three minutes, and directed in any style (documentary, fiction, live action – even animated). The grand prize? Appropriately, $1,000 toward the winners’ school lunch project. To check out last year’s stars, click here.

The second contest is Cooking Up Change, a nation-wide competition challenging high school and college students to design a healthy school lunch. It’s co-organized with the Healthy Schools Campaign. The criteria: students must incorporate locally grown ingredients, meet the nutrition standards proposed recently by the Institute of Medicine and use ingredients commonly available in a school kitchen. With Karen Duncan, wife of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Christie Vilsack, wife of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, as National Honorary Co-Chairs, the event will culminate in a final cook-off at the National Farm to Cafeteria conference this May.

Beyond hosting the Cooking up Change finale, the National Farm to Cafeteria conference promises a wealth of resources for those interested in starting or growing a program in their own community. Hosted in conjunction with the Community Food Security Coalition, the conference offers something for everyone: food service providers, producers, educators and youth as well. The event will be held May 17-19 in Detroit, MI and keep an eye out – registration begins February 22nd.

Whew, that’s a mouthful! Bottom line is: whether you’re a student, educator, parent, artist, chef, or any combination of the above, Farm to School and its partners have great opportunities right now. Dig in.