Schoolkids in Stanislaus will learn to grow and cook healthy food through USDA grant
Nearly 100 schoolkids in Stanislaus County will learn about growing and cooking healthy food through a $99,948 federal grant.
Each of the fifth through eighth-graders will tour a large garden near Ceres and take four cooking classes during the coming school year.
The grant is among 123, totaling about $10 million, that were announced July 25 by the Farm to School program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
It went to the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District, which promotes soil health, wholesome eating and other causes in a zone east of the San Joaquin River.
Cooking at after-school sessions
The 96 students will be chosen from after-school programs serving generally low-income parts of the county, said an email from Gavin Bruce, community programs manager for the district.
The cooking classes will be at those campuses, which have not been identified. The tours will be at the district’s garden at Keyes Road and Central Avenue, and possibly community gardens in the area.
“Students will have the opportunity to try fruits and vegetables that they may have never tried before while learning basic cooking skills through four different recipes,” Bruce said. “Each week, the recipes get a little more complex so that the students can progress in their skills.”
The program is called Junior Chefs. It launched in 2016 with a grant to the Modesto Certified Farmers Market. Junior high students shopped the stalls for ingredients and cooked them right there on 16th Street. They fried fingerling potatoes and made tomato-peach bruschetta on the day The Modesto Bee visited.
The new grant also will fund a Farm to School symposium, where educators, farmers and other interested people can connect. The date and location have not been determined.
The movement seeks to help children eat well while providing markets for local farmers. Past federal and state grants have gone to purchases of the products and to campus gardens that provide both food for cafeterias and lessons for students.
Stanislaus doesn’t have to look far for local food, thanks to its bounty of fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs and other fare.
Another $60 million for states
The USDA also announced that it was providing $60 million for states to award to other projects over four years.
“The expansion of Farm to School is more important than ever for our kids,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release. “When schools and local producers work together, children benefit from higher-quality foods on their plates and program operators have stable sources for the products they need.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
