The Natural Foodie column in today’s Press Herald is on the strides made by school systems in bringing locally grown food and freshly prepared food to the student lunch trays.
One of the most visible changes in Portland this year is the addition of fruit and vegetable buffets at all nine elementary schools.
Less visible is the drive to make more dishes in-house and rely less on processed food.
“We’ve made pretty big strides in bringing scratch-made food back to Portland schools,” Adams said. “We still serve chicken nuggets once a month, but now we do breaded drumsticks made in-house and baked red potatoes instead of tater tots.”