WSDA Blog

Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Author: Annette Slonim

Visit a school lunchroom on the first Wednesday in October, and you’re likely to encounter Taste Washington Day, the annual celebration of farm to school connections where Washington grown foods served in school meals during the fall harvest season take center stage. A long-standing tradition in Washington, in recent years, including 2024, the governor has even issued a proclamation officially recognizing the day. This year, the event took place on October 2^nd with more than 50 schools participating and featuring 50 farms and producers across the state. It marks the start of October as National Farm to School Month. 

How Taste Washington Day works 

WSDA Farm to School Program organizes Taste Washington Day with engagement from Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to highlight and encourage farm to school partnerships that can continue throughout the school year. Interested schools and farms can sign up for help from WSDA that might include suggestions of local, seasonal foods to feature in Taste Washington Day breakfast or lunch recipes. WSDA also helps farms and schools connect with each other, provides tips and suggested activities to help students learn about where their food comes from and how it gets from the farm to the table. WDSA also equips districts with communication tools and templates to publicize the day in the cafeteria and with the broader school community. 

But Taste Washington Day isn’t just about highlighting local food systems for one day in October. “We work to tie Taste Washington Day back to the fact that farm to school activities happen all year,” says WSDA’s Farm to School Lead, Annette Slonim. “Taste Washington Day is also an opportunity to celebrate and bring attention to the efforts school food service directors make to partner with local farms and bring local foods to students year-round.” Slonim is also quick to add that farm to school connections don’t happen just in the cafeteria. Classroom activities and School gardens also play role, particularly during the autumn season, which is one of bountiful harvest.

Farm to school innovation at West Valley School District (Yakima)

This year, WSDA and OSPI staff visited West Valley School District in Yakima on Taste Washington Day to shine a spotlight how that district plays a leading role in connecting with Washington producers to bring local foods into their own schools — and also lends sourcing support to ten other school districts in the region.

West Valley School District's commitment to farm to school is deeply rooted in the passion and dedication of its child nutrition director, Magieline Benedicto. Coming from a third-generation family farm in Wapato, Benedicto understands the importance of connecting students with locally sourced foods. She uses funding from a WSDA Farm to School Purchasing Grant and access to local products through the OSPI Local Food for Schools program to provide students with nutritious meals made from fresh, Washington-grown produce, whole grains, low-fat dairy, beef, and seafood.

For this year’s Taste Washington Day, Benedicto and her team of dedicated cooks prepared white bean chili made with red bell peppers from Yakama Nation Farms. The chili is a community-submitted recipe that has become a popular menu item. The district encourages parent and student involvement by allowing recipe submissions and taste-testing sessions. This interactive approach not only engages the community but also ensures that student preferences are taken into consideration when planning school menus. 

In addition to the homemade chili, the day’s local menu featured breakfast parfaits made with yogurt from Grace Harbor Farms and homemade blueberry bread, cinnamon bread, and muffins made with flour from Cascade Milling. The lunchtime salad bar featured watermelon from Yakama Nation Farms and apples from Chelan Fresh.

West Valley School District takes an innovative approach to school nutrition, which has garnered national recognition. The district received the USDA Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award for its continuous efforts to enhance the nutritional quality of school meals through scratching cooking and local sourcing. 

October is National Farm to School Month 

Taste Washington Day comes but once a year. But the event serves as something akin a kickoff for a larger national celebration: National Farm to School Month, which occurs each October. In fact, if schedules don’t align, schools are encouraged to celebrate Taste Washington Day on any day in October that works for them.

“Washington farmers are passionate about providing their communities with high quality, nutritious, local food. Direct farm to school connections help make it possible for those foods to reach more students in schools across the state and create opportunities for young eaters to learn about the farmers and importance of local food systems,” says Slonim.

Taste Washington Day and National Farm to School month showcase the collective effort of schools and producers to promote healthy eating and support local agriculture. Learn more about Farm to School by visiting WSDA’s website at agr.wa.gov/farmtoschool.