Thanksgiving’s still a week away. Red Hook students this Thursday, though, will dine on turkey and gravy, herbed peas, smashed potatoes and top it off with a serving of peach crisp.
Each menu item, from the Northwind Farms turkey to the Hudson Valley Fresh Milk, was supplied by New York vendors. In fact, every item on this month’s menu is coming from a New York source.
Red Hook’s Food Service department is completing the rare feat of serving a November menu entirely from Empire State products for the second consecutive year. The idea was birthed by former Food Service Director Larry Anthony and his successor, Sam Pride, eagerly worked to complete duplicating the endeavor after taking the reins at the start of this year.
It’s been so successful that Pride is also filling most of this December’s menu with New York items.
Pride said New York November represents “a commitment to our students, our farmers and our communities. When we serve food grown and produced here in our region, we’re feeding kids meals that are fresher, simpler and done well.”
He said the initiative “also teaches students where their food comes from, and why that connection matters. Every apple, carrot, loaf of local bread or bag of tortilla chips from partners like Milestone Mill keeps our dollars circulating close to home and strengthens the agricultural heritage that defines the Hudson Valley.”
The project was an outgrowth of Red Hook surpassing the New York State Farm-to-School Initiative in which it encourages schools to have at least 30% of its lunch menu consist of New York-sourced items. The idea is to promote healthy, locally grown foods while increasing awareness of regional food systems.
“Investing in New York products is how we nourish students while supporting the people who nourish us,” Pride said.
The initiative also qualifies the districts for a sizable increase in state lunch reimbursement funding, and November will go a long way toward the district meeting that benchmark again.
Red Hook regularly includes some sort of notation in front of the items on its printed menu whenever it sources an item from a New York-based or local vendor. This month the letters “NY” are everywhere, with the exception of where there is an “HVF” for Hudson Valley Fresh or a specific credit to Hudson Valley Fisheries’ steel head trout.
A shortfall from one regular distributor of fruit actually left the feat in doubt as of late September, but Pride found an alternative partner, Hudson Harvest, through Hudson Valley Fresh. Because of it, students this month enjoyed fresh apples and pears, and frozen berries, peaches, plums and cherries, sometimes made into a cobbler or crisp.
Pride called the trout from Hudson Valley Fisheries a “great product” that will appear on menus again in December as Red Hook expands on its efforts from last fall.
“December’s also going to be New York heavy,” Pride said. “New York November is such a success, we want to keep it going into December and see how we do.”