Eat Real Certified

So many parents have asked: how do I get real food in my kid's school? School nutrition is an incredibly complicated system. But there are two things we know for sure: 1. The people who work in school nutrition are deeply committed to your kids. 2. There's a lot you can do as a parent to drive the shift toward real food. Eat Real Certified works directly with public schools, families, and policy makers nationwide to transform America's food system. This how-to guide will help you make change in your school community. Because we believe all children deserve a healthy, delicious future. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/ga9AiwXa

Check out the incredible farm to school wins happening at Eat Real Certified Green SOUTH MONTEREY COUNTY JOINT UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT! Read more about SMCJUHSD’s certification journey on our blog here: https://lnkd.in/gfvR3CmC !

Primal Kitchen (Primal Nutrition, LLC) has signed on to help us achieve our goal of reaching 1M school kids by 2025. Their real-ingredient sauces and dips already support healthy food at home. Now their generous $1M, two-year donation is going to make a world of difference in school cafeterias across the country. Together, we’re nourishing the future! Read about the partnership here: https://lnkd.in/dU5z3pMg

Falling in love with real food goes beyond cafeteria halls, it happens in the school garden and classrooms, too. The best part? Our friends at the National Farm to School Network found that students that participated in real food education saw an enhanced overall academic achievement in K-12 settings, including grades and test scores. What do you think is the link between food education and improved test scores? Let us know what you think in the comments below. #foodeducation #cookingmatters #farmtoschool #realfood #nutrition

Helping kids fall in love with real food involves more than just changing cafeteria menus. Building healthy eating habits requires meaningful engagement with the school community and educators. Team work really does make the dream work! #RealFoodEducation #EatRealStandards #schoolfood #farmtoschool #usdafarmtoschool #EatReal #EatRealCertified #realschoolfood #SchoolLunch #FoodSystems #FoodisMedicine #RealFood #eatyourveggies #eatyourvegetables #eatmoreplants #eattherainbow #farmtoschool

South Monterey County Joint Union High School District is Eat Real Certified Green! Through a deeply rooted Farm to School Program and culturally relevant recipes, Director Denisse Peña and her dedicated kitchen staff nourish students with vibrant, delicious, and nutritious meals. In the last few years, SMCJUHSD's dedicated team have been able to: ✅ Source nearly 50% of all produce locally. ✅ 2x the animal proteins that are responsibly sourced. ✅ 2x the number of different fruit options offered daily. Please join us in celebrating SMCJUHSD's incredible achievement and their continued dedication to bringing real food to every table for their students! Read more about SMCJUHSD’s certification journey on the blog https://lnkd.in/gaYaJqyA

We’re so excited to share that we have been selected as a national USDA 2024 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant recipient https://lnkd.in/gpkkByQb This $463K award will fund our expansion into these states, strengthening the region’s farm to school ecosystem for historically underserved communities. Eat Real will help put real food on the table in the cafeteria, and our partners Small Bites Adventure Club will bring it into the classroom and the family dining room, too. Learn more about this grant and Eat Real’s plans at eatreal.org/blog.

It was a great weekend in Chattanooga at #TSNA 2024! Eat Real team members Jiwon Jun and Sarah Doherty joined Milan Special School District and Trenton Special School District to talk about how Eat Real and our partner districts are nourishing students throughout the Mid-South with reimagined school meal programs and the importance of the #farmtoschool movement. Highlights: 🍎 Our team was joined by partners Vickie Dunaway from Milan and Lisa Sieber-Garland from Trenton to discuss to discuss small but impactful changes they're making to their school meals and the important roles school site staff play in their districts 🍎 We had the pleasure of bumping into friend of Eat Real and fellow USDA Farm-to-School Grant recipient, Daniel Spatz from Healthy Flavors Farm 🍎 Enjoyed an incredible presentation by Liz Clark from Forward Food about Plant Powered Plates: Nurturing Healthy Habits in K-12 Cafeterias Our team was grateful for the opportunity to provide our food service partners with a platform to share their expertise and to empower partner districts to find avenues to share their stories. #eatreal #eatrealcertified #schoolfood #childnutrition #nutrition #schoolnutrition #k12

We kicked off our School Lunch Tour Series on May 13th at Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) in San Juan Capistrano, California. CUSD, who certified Eat Real Green last October, is the 9th largest district in California, serving 42,000 kids. Director of Food and Nutrition Services, Kristin Hilleman, and the food service team took us on a tour of their central kitchen and treated all 30 attendees to a taste of their delicious menu items! Thank you to all who attended, but especially Kristin Hilleman, CUSD’s Nutrition Specialist Shannon Illingworth, MDA, RDN, and their entire foodservice team. It was an incredible kickoff to our tour. We can’t wait for the next one! Read the blog post here: https://lnkd.in/gepW6Adc Tu David Phu Alex Jermasek Nora LaTorre Molly Daugherty Sarah Doherty Natalie Linden Kristy Khachigian Maia Meunier, MBA Jill O'Connell Dickinson Family Farms Victor Trejo, RDN Claudia Martinez Sunny R. Jimmy Knodel, MBA Ramiro Contreras Josh Cruz Greg Iorio Gila Jones Lisa Davis

Brigaid is a group of experienced chefs who use their culinary expertise to help institutional foodservice programs of all types and sizes achieve their goals. Eat Real Certified district North Monterey County Unified School District worked with Brigaid Chef Stefanie to aid them in the development of new recipes for their school food menu. The result—delicious, nutritious, scratch cooked meals.#EatRealStandards #schoolfood #farmtoschool #usdafarmtoschool #EatReal #EatRealCertified #realschoolfood #SchoolLunch #FoodSystems #MinimalProcessing #FoodisMedicine #ProcessedFood #RealFood Read Chef Stefanie's interview on the blog! https://lnkd.in/gHnd6ieV