Farm to School Community BBQ Sept. 21 4-7 pm

Farm to School Community BBQ to celebrate local food and Minnesota Farm to School Month


MINNEAPOLIS – Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) on September 21 from 4 to 7 p.m. will host its first Farm to School Community BBQ to celebrate the school district’s efforts to provide fresh, local and healthy foods to students. The event will take place at MPS’ Culinary Center, located at 812 N. Plymouth Avenue in north Minneapolis.



“Serving local food in school meals is the right thing to do,” said Dr. Bernadeia Johnson, superintendent of schools. “Providing fresh, healthy options for students while supporting growers in our region – that’s a win-win.”



MPS’ Director of Culinary and Nutrition Services Bertrand Weber is continuing school district’s momentum to provide students with healthy options. “This is all part of our broader efforts to serve real food in our school meals,” he said. “Mealtime is a particularly important moment in a child’s day. Our responsibility is to provide children with healthy, balanced meals; to develop their sense of taste; to help children make good food choices without being influenced by trends, media and marketing; and to teach them the relationship between eating habits and health.”



The event will be an afternoon of local food and fun for MPS students and families in honor of Minnesota Farm to School Month. Participants will learn more about MPS’ Farm to School program, which aims to feature local food in school meals and connect students with where their food comes from. MPS’ farm to school activities are supported in part through the City of Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support’s Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) grant, funded by the Minnesota Department of Health.



Local food served at the event will include sliders made with turkey from Ferndale Market in Cannon Falls, MN; roasted corn from Happy Acres Produce in Alexandria, MN; cucumber salsa with tomatoes from Laughing Loon Farm in Northfield, MN, and more. A Corn-Shucking Contest will be a chance for local dignitaries to try their hands at shucking local corn in the spirit of raising awareness of where our food comes from.



There will also be a variety of hands-on activities for families, including face painting, a compost demonstration, local food taste tests and cooking demonstrations. Local organizations will display resources to help families find local food in their communities. Finally, local farmers will showcase live farm animals and some of the best produce our region has to offer.



WHAT: Farm to School Community BBQ for MPS students and families



WHEN: Friday, September 21 from 4- 7 p.m.

Corn-Shucking Contest at 5:30 p.m.



WHERE: 812 North Plymouth Avenue (parking lot of MPS’ Culinary Center)

Minneapolis, MN



PARTNERS:







• AGAPE Child Development Center

• Appetite for Change

• Broadway Family Medicine Clinic

• Buffalo Gal

• Community Table Coop

• Coop Partners Warehouse

• Eastside Food Co-op

• Eco Education

• Ferndale Market

• Gardening Matters

• Grow Twin Cities

• Growing Lots Urban Farm

• Happy Acres Produce

• Harvest Moon Backyard Farmers

• Hennepin County Organics Recycling

• Homegrown Minneapolis

• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

• Laughing Loon Farm

• Linden Hills Co-op

• Local Food Resource Hubs

• Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support

• North High School Community Education

• Northside Fresh

• Project Sweetie Pie

• Riverbend Farms

• Seward Co-op

• Stone’s Throw Urban Farm

• The Mulch Store

• The Wedge Co-op

• U of M Cooking Matters

• U of M Extension Farm to School

• U of M Healthy Food, Healthy Lives Institute

• U of M Master Gardeners

• U of M Simply Good Eating

• Untiedts Farm

• Whole Foods Markets

• Youth Farm & Market Project