New California Thursday initiative aimed at getting kids to eat local, healthy

As part of a new initiative aimed at getting students to eat health and local, thousands of students in California were going to be fed fresh lunches prepared solely with foods grown in California.

Fifteen school districts were to participate in the roll-out of the new California Thursdays program. One of the schools participating is Los Arboles Middle School in Marina. On Thursday, students at the school were served tacos — with all the fixings – all grown, produced or sourced within California.

The idea is that California children will benefit from more fresh produce grown in the state.

According to the organizers of the project, which includes the nonprofit Center or Ecoliteracy and food service directors, buying, preparing and serving local California food is a triple win.

The group is working to try to reform an “entrenched, centralized food system that ships produce around the nation, sometimes moving California produce to Chicago and other distant locations before returning it, highly processed, to California.”

Added to that are the challenges of creating recipes that kids enjoy and that meet federal standards, finding local farmers who can supply school districts, training staff to cook and serve fresh meals, and encouraging students to try them.

For more about the California Thursday program, click here.