[:en]Congressman Jared Huffman Participated in Edible Education Program at Pleasant Valley Elementary
Congressman Jared Huffman visited Pleasant Valley Elementary School in October during one of the cooking labs being held at the school. Pleasant Valley is one of four schools in the Novato Unified School District participating in cooking labs as part of the Wellness in the Schools program.
Congressman Huffman, along with the students, listened to a cooking lesson on preparing a marinara sauce and then helped pass out tomatoes for the students to cut up. The cooking labs are part of NUSD’s health education and nutrition in the classroom and school cafeteria and NUSD is proud to continue edible education with the Wellness in the Schools cooking labs. Wellness in the Schools, or WITS, first visited Lu Sutton Elementary last year and students had an enriching experience learning how to cut tomatoes and cook food. This year, cooking labs expanded to other schools in the district: Lu Sutton, Pleasant Valley, Loma Verde, and Hamilton. Congressman Huffman also toured the school observing many classrooms.
During the cooking lab, Joyfoodly Founder and WITS alum Chef Hollie Green taught students about a variety of handpicked tomatoes from the Indian Valley Campus Organic Farm and Garden. Students also learned about the health benefits of vitamins A, C and K along with the antioxidant lycopene. Good hygiene, knife safety, and tasting a variety of tomatoes and sauce, was all part of the cooking lab. Students loved it and were actively engaged and eagerly participated throughout the lesson. They prepare the meals and then eat them together at lunch.
NUSD was the first West Coast pilot of the national program Wellness in the Schools last year at Lu Sutton. WITS is a national nonprofit with a mission to inspire healthy eating, environmental awareness, while incorporating a fit lifestyle for kids in public schools. The students learn simple recipes that are affordable for families.
Miguel Villarreal, NUSD Director of Food and Nutritional Services, commented, “School food service programs and community organizations have been very proactive the last 5 – 10 years in ensuring the food we are serving to kids in school is less processed and offering fresher, locally grown foods. I have teamed up with Chef Hollie Greene and the Joyfoodly 12 program that not only teaches kids about cooking by starting with veggies as the center of the plate, but also teaches families how to engage their children in the process. Parents value healthy meals for their children and educating students about the importance of healthy food may encourage them to eat more fruits and vegetables at home. This is fundamental if we are truly going to change the culture of nutrition and wellness for the next generation.”
Students can cook healthy meals at home with unlimited access to Chef Hollie’s Joyful 12 Online Learning Lab, in both English and Spanish, where parents and families can engage in healthy cooking together. All recipes have clear allergen labels and are tested gluten-free.
Chef Hollie is an alum of WITS and are partners through a licensing agreement. She originally was the only teacher but since she taught students from the Golden Gate Dietetic Internship program at SFSU, she recruited a few of her students to help teach the courses and assist in leading the daily 50-minute cooking labs, where students learn hands-on about healthy eating and farm-to-table cooking. The focus is to teach children to eat locally and sustainably, as well as teaching about the healthy fruits and vegetables of the season, which are most nutritious.
Wellness in the Schools sponsors include Whole Foods Market and The Culinary Trust; community sponsors and partners include Kaiser Permanente and Bi-Rite Market, Indian Valley Campus Organic Farm and Garden, and the SF-Marin Food Bank.[:]