Food Service Directors & Farmers go Back-to-School

This fall, The Alice Waters Institute will be deepening its impact on school food and regenerative agriculture as we host several Farm to School Culinary+Procurement Workshops across California. In partnership with Conscious Kitchen, we will bring together Food Service Directors and organic-regenerative farmers and producers from four major regions in the state; Bay Area at The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, Yolo-Sacramento at Full Belly Farm in Guinda, North Valley at the CSU Chico Student Farm in Chico, and Imperial-Riverside at Aziz Farm in Thermal. We will also once again be bringing a special culinary workshop to the student food service staff at UC Merced, teaching the students about their local food shed and the importance of organic-regenerative agriculture to their own food systems, health, and community.

The workshops feature a hands-on culinary experience–cooking seasonal school menus highlighting products from local organic-regenerative farmers and producers– as well as discussions about how to make direct connections with producers and a Producer Marketplace which gives the farmers the opportunity to share their products, pricelists, and seasonal calendars with the food service directors.

These workshops bring together all the pieces that result in a vibrant regional regenerative food system - seasonal menu planning and recipes, direct connections between schools and their local farmers and food hubs, assistance in making purchasing plans, and inspiring a commitment on the part of food service to shift their purchasing to a local organic-regenerative model, all of which will benefit students, communities, and the planet.