Class to Cafe: Making Connections between FoodPrints and School Cafeterias

This school year, FoodPrints will continue and expand its partnership with Wellness In the Schools (WITS) and DC Public Schools by adding two partner schools to our “Class to Cafe” program. A total of 10 schools will be scratch-cooking and serving FoodPrints recipes once a week with support of WITS chefs, Jami Bailey and Megan Simone. 

Last spring, a team of researchers set out to explore whether the FoodPrints-WITS intervention was associated with increased consumption of school meals in the cafeteria with observations and surveys at two FoodPrints-WITS schools and two demographically similar schools without the programming. Our research showed that students in FoodPrints-WITS schools:

* Ate, on average, 42% more of their FoodPrints entree portion and side salad at school lunch than students without the programming 

* Reported greater preferences for various vegetables (kale, radishes, sweet potatoes, beets, lettuce) than students at schools without FoodPrints/WITS programming

One SodexoMAGIC team member, Norma, at SWS Elementary said, “WITS partnering with FoodPrints gave my job a purpose and makes me feel like I am making a difference in the world.”

This fall, students will be eating these delicious recipes on a rotating basis on their Class to Cafe days: Pasta with Colorful Marinara, Sofrito Rice & Bean and Corn Salad, and Red, White, and Green Paninis. Follow this link for the recipes: http://freshfarm.org/foodprints-recipes.html

See the Class to Cafe partnership in action in this video: https://castlegatemedia.wistia.com/medias/9ey5zj74d7