In an effort to raise awareness about what our school lunch program could be like if Grass Valley Child Nutrition Services had a better-equipped kitchen, Sierra Harvest cooked LUNCH for dinner at Deer Creek Elementary for their Family Fun Night last Friday.
Approximately 260 attendees were treated to Autumn stew, salad, and biscuits, expertly prepared by local chef Carlos Trujillo of Farm to Table catering. Chef Trujillo matched the price of a school lunch – each serving cost under $3.00 – and 100% of the produce he used was sourced within 300 miles.
Diners were excited to find out about Sierra Harvest’s efforts to bring more fresh, locally sourced food into the school meal program, and applauded what Grass Valley Child Nutrition Services has ALREADY done in that arena. Did you know that GVCNS sourced local cherry tomatoes from Greg’s Organics for school lunches last year? Local celebrity “Farmer Leo”, co-founder of Living Lands Agrarian Network, and his wife Debra Chapman were on hand to watch Deer Creek families enjoy Chef Trujillo’s preparation of the vegetables that they grew only a few miles from the school. We are thrilled to have Leo participating in our farm to school program. We are hoping to host another “Lunch for Dinner” event in the near future with Grass Valley Child Nutrition Services preparing the meal.
A big thank you to the Deer Creek Parent Teacher Club for supplying drinks, bowls, plates and utensils for the event, AND for helping with set up and clean up. And speaking of thank yous…
CORRECTION: Last week’s post about Tasting Week contained a few inaccuracies…most importantly, we missed a few thank yous.
A very big thank you to Shanan Manuel of Sierra Farm to Table catering, who volunteered her time to cook up beet-carrot-zucchini cakes with scratch-made ranch dressing for the lucky students at Chicago Park, and to Laura Thorne of Way Yum Sushi, who made sushi rolls for the students at Nevada City School of the Arts!
And a HUGE thank you to event organizer Rachelle Zorne, who volunteered MANY hours of her time to organize Tasting Week for the second year in a row! Thanks Rachelle – you did a fantastic job.