Tuesday, January 16, 2024
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's School Nutrition Team has everything you need for your school’s biggest field trip ever – without leaving the lunchroom. Check out the video here!
Around the World in 80 Trays is back, and looking for new schools ready to expand their horizons. Best of all, you don’t have to be a school nutrition director to get the ball rolling. Just start by having the inspiration and talking with your school nutrition team to see how you can help!
Why Around the World in 80 Trays?
The DPI's School Nutrition team came up with the idea five years ago as a way of shaking things up a bit in the school lunch biz, and as a way of celebrating the diversity of students. School lunches serve up trusty, balanced meals to hundreds of thousands of students every day in Wisconsin. But why not try and make school lunches even cooler? How can we make our food fun and more reflective of the global community we are a part of?
Ready to dip your toes in?
- Advocate for more seasonings, spices, or even fresh herbs in your school’s prepared lunches.
- Add one “from scratch” item to the menu and encourage students and staff to try.
- Ask students and staff to talk about their favorite global dish or flavors.
- Have your school lunch staff pitch dishes from their background or that they’ve tried.
- Add decorations to the hallways! Have fun with it.
Ready to jump right in?
- Check out the Around the World in 80 Trays cookbook to find recipes standardized for school food operations, and information about what other schools have done with success.
- Think about highlighting ingredients with a cultural flair.
- Some schools have made passports, and kids and staff get “stamps” for trying different dishes.
Around the World in 80 Trays represents the many ways that school nutrition has changed
Thinking Local
Through the expansion of the Farm to School program, schools have more access to fresh, local ingredients. That not only helps us provide more nutritious food options, it also helps sustain our local farmers and agriculture.
Increasing Uptake of School Meals
The more students we have eating satisfying meals at school, the more we can grow our school lunch programs and make sure that our students are getting what they need to be strong in mind and body.
Celebrating Difference
Lots of our students come from homes with diverse backgrounds. Moreover, more kids than ever have exposure to different types of food. We are far past the days when pizza counted as a “foreign” food. Students may already regularly eat Mexican food, Chinese food, even sushi or ramen, on a regular basis. As global foods become more familiar, we have a real opportunity to expand our students’ palates while honoring the diversity of our Wisconsin classrooms and communities.
More from Scratch Cooking, Fewer Processed Meals
Eating fewer highly processed foods can be a win/win. Generally, the fresher the food, the less need for preservatives, additives, or salt. But also, from scratch cooking generally tastes better. We can leverage the backgrounds and experiences of our school nutrition professionals to create meals that are more than just a list of nutritional percentages, but have meaning and create connection.
Check out all of the Around the World in 80 Trays resources available on the DPI’s website, including lots of tips and tricks to make your voyage a success! As always, we’d love to see what you do, and how your school makes this program your own. The sky’s the limit, and every year we are blown away by the creative ideas and innovative strategies you come up with. Take the pledge and off we go!