Not many people would consider raw broccoli their favorite food, but the good news is Shelina McClain has a secret ingredient for this nutritious food – and so many others. The secret ingredient is having the right kitchen equipment, which ensures healthy and delicious meals every time!

There’s something growing on at Rialto Unified School District (RUSD). By growing school gardens, serving more local foods in school meals, offering all students breakfast and lunch at no cost, serving healthy summer meals, and more, RUSD is supporting a healthier future for their community. And it is all due to the school district’s commitment to serving kids healthy and tasty school meals.

Individuals like Angela Adkins dedicate their careers to providing kids with delicious meals that give kids the nutrition they need to grow and thrive. Her team of school nutrition professionals dish up meals for over 1,700 students every day in Carroll County, Kentucky.

The New York City Department of Education’s Office of Food and Nutrition Services (OFNS) exists to equitably serve New York City’s students with healthy and delicious meals that enhance their educational experience, reflect their voices, and nourish them into adulthood. They acknowledge that tasty food without nutrition is detrimental to students’ well-being while healthy meals without taste repel students’ curious taste buds and limit participation.

Every year, students in Houston County get excited for one of Georgia’s biggest annual events held right in their backyard – the Georgia National Fair. Many students and families in this agricultural community actively participate by showing farm animals, volunteering at booths, and attending the event. But when a school nutrition program chooses to celebrate the fair, of course, the focus is on the food and fun!

Despite the many challenges that came with the pandemic and other events leading to increased costs and supply chain disruptions, Montague Area Public Schools in Michigan found stability for their nutrition department by providing free school meals through the Community Eligibility Provision and capitalizing on local foods and its well-established Farm to School education programming to keep kids coming back for more.

Even with staffing shortages and supply challenges, Hillsborough County’s School Nutrition Program in Florida delivers 190,000 meals every day to students from incredibly diverse backgrounds. They know school meals are oftentimes the most nutritious meals of the day for many of their students and have worked to maintain a high-quality menu through the toughest of challenges.

Roseville Area Schools in Minnesota leverages the diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds of their students to create meals from several countries and continents. With more than 30 languages spoken at home, the students and meals served in Roseville Area Schools represent the many varied populations including Latinx, Somali, Hmong, and more.