Students in Delhi are treated to a local lunch

Congratulations to our friends at Farm Catskills for their successful event this week at Delaware Academy in Delhi. The Daily Star has the full story.

Here's more from one of the event organizers, Faiga Brussel proprietor of Good Cheap Food in Delhi:

" On Wednesday morning, high school students got to see the film "Food Inc." about factory farming in the USA. Afterwards, they were treated to a lunch made from local ingredients: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, beet salad, yogurt, apple crisp....The ingredients were provided gratis or purchased from local and regional growers. An army of volunteers from the community peeled a ton of potatoes and a hill of apples for the event. And kids helped out during study halls.

After lunch, there were classroom meetings of students and teachers with community members involved in local food issues. The film and the issues it raised was discussed, and the students were encouraged to make suggestions about what individuals and the group could do to support local agriculture.

The student group I participated with was lively and well informed. A pleasure to be with. And they all raved about the meal.

Final act of the afternoon was all the groups convening in the auditorium to share the goals of each group and engage in a Jeopardy type contest between grades with the questions relating to food and farming. The seniors won, and their prize was to be apple pies served to them today during school.

Some of the recommendations that the kids came up with were: local food lunches at school weekly (they said they would peel the potatoes) , a garden at school, buying more local foods from farmers markets and growers both as individuals and as an institution.

All and all it was an inspiring day. A wonderful group of volunteers from the community, dedicated staff members and students who persevered to make it happen. Now we just have to figure out a way to keep the positive energy flowing and keep the students engaged in these issues."