FoodCorps and the Fruits and Vegetables of Labor

I first heard about FoodCorps while attending Brightwater for culinary school in Arkansas. During my Food Systems course in my last semester of school, our instructor showed the documentary, King Corn. In the film, two friends move to Iowa to learn about the food system first-hand by raising an acre of corn since corn is what drives much of the world. One of those friends was Curt Ellis, the CEO and Co-founder of FoodCorps. In the “Where are they now” epilogue at the end of the film, FoodCorps was mentioned as part of Ellis’ future. Around the same time I watched the film, the Arkansas state lead for FoodCorps visited our campus to recruit service members. At that point, I knew I wanted to get back into the classroom to teach students, and I thought FoodCorps sounded like a good way to do it. The program allowed me to combine my culinary passions with teaching by working with young kids and sharing experiences in cooking, nutrition, growing, and gardens.

When I applied in 2018, 225 FoodCorps service members were stationed in 352 schools across 17 states and the D.C. Metro (FoodCorps Annual Report, 2018). However, the service locations have changed over the years due to need and funding. The 2020-2021 service year was FoodCorps’ last in Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, and New York, but Kentucky, Missouri, and Rhode Island have since been added to the service site list. Service sites are selected (or dropped) due to available financial resources, partnerships within the local communities, and the socioeconomic and minority status of students served. Regarding financial resources, since FoodCorps service members receive a meager living stipend, the cost of living in Hawaii and New York was too expensive to justify service members in those locations. As for partnerships within local communities, this includes schools, non-profit organizations, and political advocacy groups. (One of the larger roles FoodCorps’ national leadership staff play is political advocacy. As CEO and Co-founder Curt Ellis said in a podcast from 2019, “Food is the place where social justice and racial justice meet environmental sustainability and public health” [FoodCorps Co-Founder & CEO Curt Ellis on Food as a Political Tool, 2019]). In terms of socioeconomic status, in the 2021-2022 school year, 84% of the students served received free or reduced-priced lunch, which is higher than the 77% of students in that bracket nationally. Additionally, 81% of students served that school year identified as BIMPOC - Black, Indigenous, Multiracial, or People of Color (Our Impact, 2022). FoodCorps has shifted its outreach focus over the years to place a greater emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI Report, 2021-2022). While I understand the intent and am sure they have plenty of statistics to back up their decisions, as one who grew up in an overwhelmingly “white” state, I can personally attest that food education is needed everywhere regardless of racial demographics.

In the spring of 2018, after I researched potential service states, spent hours writing my application, and passed a screening interview, I had a second interview with three sites in Arkansas. (Applicants can select their top three states where their application can get sent, and AR was my third choice of state assignment - after Maine and Michigan. National staff prefer that the applicant has some connection to the state where they are applying. I just knew Maine and Michigan were cool and wanted to go!) After interviews that I thought went well, I was passed on for those locations in AR, but Connecticut picked me up. This was really the better alternative since Maine in the northeast was my top choice anyway. While travel, in general, is great, I get more out of a place - or can give more to a place - if I am there for a longer period of time, so another move across the country was in my future. I interviewed with New Britain and New Haven Public Schools. Maybe it was the idea of living near Yale and knowing New Haven was a larger metropolitan area which would be new and exciting. Or, I really liked the no-nonsense but friendly attitude of the New Haven “Boss Lady” Food Service Director. I knew New Haven was the place for me.

During my initial screening interview, the Connecticut state lead asked why I wanted to go to CT. I did want to experience the history and culture of the Northeast, but I was also honest in the fact that my knowledge of the state was based around Gilmore Girls. She had to laugh since I was not the first to tell her this. The state did not disappoint in small-town charm. Yes, there are lots of highways, traffic, and personalities different from the south, but a northeast adventure was what I wanted. Stars Hollow does not actually exist, but I did spend a Saturday driving through towns that inspired the Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, including Washington, CT. If you're ever in the area, it deserves a visit!

On my first day in the state, after dropping my dad off at Bradley International Airport, I just kept driving into Massachusetts. I saw the state line on my GPS, and not believing how close I was, I thought, “Why not?” Everything was much closer together, which meant the only limit to how far I could go in one day was traffic that slowed me down. That same day on my drive back to Hamden, the town where I resided just outside of New Haven, I drove past dozens of farm stands. I didn’t stop since I wanted to get back and start moving into the room I was renting in the house I shared with someone I found on Craigslist. (We video chatted first, and she became a great friend that year, so Craigslist does work out, occasionally!) I had to smile at the quaintness of the farm stands as I drove by, though. (Farm stands and old graveyards were spread across the state and oh-so-tempting to me to stop and browse. Fruit and history - the real appeal of the northeast.) As plentiful as the stands are, one doesn’t have to go far to buy local. As an added bonus, the chain stores also carried local produce, which was better for the economy instead of shipping in from California or Mexico. During FoodCorps CT training and service days, we visited a few of these local growers. I also came to know the names of the larger growers as my fellow New Haven service member and I searched the procurement database. Part of our role was helping to bring locally grown produce into school kitchens.

Belltown Hill Orchard in South Glastonbury, CT, one of the local suppliers to NHPS

Our Food Service Director for New Haven Public Schools was a big champion of this. She was in charge of 44 school kitchens, and she encouraged her four managers who oversaw those schools’ kitchens to buy locally when possible. On a few of my many drives, I drove by and occasionally stopped at the farms I saw on the produce procurement list, and I visited a few apple orchards with friends that fall. This is a part of the northeast I would not have come to know as well if I only visited the area instead of moving there for a year.

My role as a FoodCorps AmeriCorps service member was multifaceted. I taught cooking, gardening, and nutrition lessons to pre-kindergarten students through 6th-grade students. (In Montana, I occasionally worked with 7th and 8th-grade middle school students, as well.) I promoted new cafeteria menu items. In CT, this looked like talking up a menu item like raw snow peas or jicama fries to students in line getting their food, and then allowing them to sign a poster saying they tried it. Simple tactic, but they loved any chance to write their name on a poster.

One of the many cafeteria posters I made that kids could sign if they ate their fruits or veggies.

I led cafeteria taste tests in which my team members and I (one other service member in New Haven and one or two other Farm to School employees in Montana) would make an item (entrée, condiment, side dish, dessert) featuring a locally grown, in-season produce item. In CT, these items were featured by the Univerity of Connecticut extension Put Local on Your Tray, and in MT, these items were featured by the Montana Harvest of the Month program. In both instances, it was nice to have supportive resources already established. Often, my team and/ or I would choose our own new recipe to feature the item in the cafeteria that month by handing out samples during lunchtime and allowing students to vote if they “love it,” “like it,” or “tried it” - aka, not for them. If we were stuck in deciding what to make, though, those programs provided recipes that other schools have already tried and “kid-tested.” Then we could use those as-is or tweak them to make them our own.

In both states, I led monthly taste tests and lessons that featured local items, including the following: apples, beets, brassicas such as kale and broccoli, carrots, chickpeas, leafy greens, lentils, peaches, summer squash, whole grains, and winter squash. Our job was to get kids to “try things,” as the FoodCorps slogan was, which included thinking outside baby carrots and apple slices. And if you’re already thinking, “What kid would eat a beet?”, you’d be surprised. It was all about education, presentation, and positive peer pressure. If kids knew why something was healthy, helped make the recipe, or helped grow the food, they were more likely to try it. If none of that was the case, but the sample looked appealing, they’d give it a shot. And if all else failed, if a “cool kid” or even an adult (me!) tried it in front of the kids and told them it was good, they may try it then, too. Some of the items we taste-tested with kids included a spinach/ beet/ pear salad and roasted butternut squash hummus.

Butternut Squash Hummus served with carrot and celery sticks

(That one wore out our two refurbished Vitamixes, and they needed a break while puréeing enough chickpeas and cooked butternut squash to fill two 6” hotel pans.) In Montana, kids loved the lentil taco filling and root fruit slaw, both of which are included in Farm to School’s Fresh From the Classroom Cookbook made in partnership with B.A. Winans Elementary School during the 2019-2020 school year.

When I wasn’t leading or preparing for a taste test, I could be found teaching lessons in the classrooms and school gardens or eating with kids in the cafeteria. As a former teacher at the time, I loved the lessons! This included both teaching and writing since I developed over 44 state standards-aligned farm-to-school lessons in my four years working for FoodCorps and F2SPC.

Me leading one of FoodCorps' Go, Grow, Glow lessons for a 3rd grade class

However, as someone who also wanted a break from the classrooms, I may have enjoyed my cafeteria time more. Don’t get me wrong, the cafeteria was definitely an awkward place. The older kids didn’t want me there (honestly, sometimes I was just killing time between lessons), and younger kids who were slow eaters were told by the paras and cafeteria staff to spend more time eating than talking to me. But I loved visiting with the younger kids in the cafeterias. In CT I heard kid conversations while going around to the tables and using an apple corer to cut whole apples they picked up as their fruit. Kids were offered different food on the cafeteria line instead of being told they had to take it, but knowing I was there to cut apples for them, they were more likely to grab one. It was definitely easier for the kids to eat the slices than take a bite out of the apple whole, especially since kids were losing teeth left and right during the early elementary years. I also heard some of my favorite kid quotes at the lunch tables. A table of third graders started a conversation about what they would be if they were a vegetable. One kid said, "I'd be a pumpkin, so I could be carved!" When I was talking with a table of 4th graders about a possible carrot challenge (they finish their bag of carrots, and they get to sign my poster), one kid asked, "Can we have a meat challenge? I like meat." "No! It has to be fruit or vegetables!" another student told him. I particularly enjoyed when the kids took on the “fruit and veggie police” role they thought I held. And *every* time a second grader saw me since the beginning of the school year, he never failed to say, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away!"

In addition to leading lessons and encouraging kids to “try new things” in the cafeterias, I was also in charge of the gardens at the schools where I was assigned - two each in Connecticut and Montana. In our first years living in rural Oklahoma, my family and I had a small garden. We planted a few fruits and vegetables but never had a big harvest. It was a fun activity and allowed us to grow a few produce items we would otherwise buy from the grocery store. Besides that limited experience, my garden knowledge was sadly lacking when I first joined FoodCorps in 2018. But thankfully, that wasn’t a requirement. Both Connecticut and Montana FoodCorps held state trainings after national orientation where we learned about growing in our specific regions. By the end of my two years in FoodCorps, then an additional two years working for Farm to School of Park County, I had a much more green thumb than when I started. I learned about cover crops, crop rotation, season extension and composting methods, companion planting, and harvesting processes. I know how to save seeds, when the best time to water is, and how to properly weed. I know about beneficial insects as well as garden pests. I know there’s nothing like eating a tomato fresh from the garden. There is nothing cuter than a baby squash - or eggplant … so cute! I feel like a real “farmer” digging out carrots and beets from the ground (since you’re likely to just pull off the tops if they’re not dug out).

Me digging up carrots at Lincoln School Farm managed by F2SPC in downtown Livingston, MT

And digging up potatoes is so satisfying, especially when kids are excited about every “treasure” they find. I, myself, have felt excitement when looking for summer and winter squash growing through the vines, checking on when they're ready to harvest. I know what it’s like to save tomatoes - even though they’re still green - from a September snowfall. I also know what it’s like to cut cabbages off their stems after brushing snow off first in freezing November temperatures. I have come to abhor aphids that can overtake kale and ruin a row of crops that was fine a week ago. I feel a sense of pride with every edible piece of fruit, leaf, or root that will end up on someone’s plate that I had a hand in growing. And I know lots of recipes to enjoy the fruits - and vegetables - of labor.

When I think of summer harvests, two of my favorites are summer squash - including yellow crookneck, pattypan, and zucchini (yellow, green, or eightball) - and peas. I love eating snap peas and snow peas straight from the vine. To be honest, I felt more selfish about them, not wanting to share, than any other garden produce. Peas are also hit-and-miss for gardens, depending on the region of the country one is in at the time.

Snap peas in one of my school's gardens in CT overtaking the tomato cage I used as a trellis

In Oklahoma, summer comes early, and the hot June weather meant the struggling peas my garden club planted this year should have been started inside in March instead of May. In Connecticut and Montana, we had a few more weeks with peas when we started them at about the same time. Their summers are slower to heat up, and kids don’t get out of school until mid-to-late June, anyway. That ensures more kids can enjoy them from the garden before adults are left taking care of them over the summer months. Ken has two delicious recipes featuring shelled peas. I used frozen peas, but if you have an abundance and want something other than the raw version, you could make Green Pea and Parmesan Cheese Tartlets or a Green Pea and Turkey Sausage Quiche. Both are great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner paired with fresh melon or a garden salad. The tartlets were a bit of a process since they are made in a muffin pan and the filling is processed to a green pea mash before filling the tart shells. However, I brought them to my small group, and one of my friends was surprised at how well the peas blended with the flaky crust. With people going back for seconds (one who even claimed he didn’t like peas), I’d say the extra effort was worth it!

Green Pea and Turkey Sausage Quiche

Green Pea and Parmesan Cheese Tartlets

Some of the first summer squash I harvested on my last days in CT

Ken has several harvest recipes that feature summer squash. This includes Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Zucchini Bread, Summer Squash Loaf with Olives and Cheese, Rice and Summer Squash Pie, Ratatouille Cobbler, Chocolate Sour Cream Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Glaze, and a Cheddar and Vegetable Bread-a-Saurus made with Great American Potato Bread dough. I first made the Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Zucchini Bread in Montana for a summer squash Harvest of the Month taste test. I made the recipe as-is but portioned the batter as muffins to share with co-workers for my own taste test. They all loved the combination of lemon zest, nutty whole wheat flour, and zucchini. When making for the kids, we left out the walnuts since many kids have nut allergies, but the rest was the same. When the kindergarteners - our most harsh critics - tried it, over 80% of the kids voted that they “love it.” Definitely a winner!

Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Zucchini Bread

The Summer Squash Loaf with Olives and Cheese was another recipe I made for co-workers, but this time I took it to a garden team meeting. FoodCorps service members were encouraged to put together a garden team at each of our schools so that when we left service, there were still interested party members at the school who could continue on the work we started. When I began service in Montana the 3rd-5th grade school garden was just getting underway. The prior year money was raised, supplies were gathered, and a team was amassed. During my service year, five raised beds were installed into the space, and while I was in Montana, that garden grew to 15 raised beds and a few apple trees. I’d like to think my baked goods were part of the inspiration, but I may never know.

Summer Squash Loaf with Olives and Cheese

The Rice and Summer Squash Pie and Ratatouille Cobbler were both great ways to use summer produce. For the pie, I used wild rice which gave added texture and a nutty flavor, but any kind of rice, quinoa, or couscous can be used. I never thought to put rice in a pie (other than as a substitution for pie weights), but Ken’s description of a “savory rice pudding in a crust” makes sense for this one-dish meal. It’s one I’ll have to repeat! Another recipe I already repeated is the Ratatouille Cobbler. I made this twice while living in Montana and more recently for my parents in Oklahoma. Ratatouille is one of my favorite dishes to make. Over the last few years, I’ve enjoyed it served over polenta with a poached egg, but Ken’s version served under spoonfuls of dough from his Cornmeal Buttermilk Biscuits is a good alternative. Regardless of how one enjoys ratatouille, the combination of stewed eggplant, onion, zucchini, tomatoes, and bell peppers makes for a great way to use garden produce in a comforting meal. I also served the Chocolate Sour Cream Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Glaze for dessert the same night I made the Ratatouille Cobbler. Chocolate and zucchini are perfect pairs for a sweet, healthy dessert, and the glaze was a sufficient topping for my family who prefer the taste of cake over too much frosting.

Rice and Summer Squash Pie

Ratatouille Cobbler

Chocolate Sour Cream Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Lastly, I was putting off the recipe for the Cheddar and Vegetable Bread-a-Saurus made with Great American Potato Bread dough for a while. I knew it would be a bit time-consuming, but I also didn’t want to make this for just myself. Anything compared to a dinosaur needs to be shared! 😅 I wasn’t wrong. The recipe didn’t suggest one cut down the dough from the potato bread, so the filling was the right amount to get rolled into a large spiral to feed a crowd. (Ken does make modifications if one wanted to make two smaller loaves, but a big name deserved a big bread.) And by a crowd, I mean my best friend, her husband, and myself. We did have a few pieces left over for lunch the next day or two, but this was so good, that I was disappointed it wasn’t bigger. At first, I wasn’t sure about the combination of cheddar cheese with the savory vegetables I would have normally paired with parmesan. But the cheddar melded into the bread and blended perfectly with the herbs and veggies. The potato dough was a great choice since it gave an added chewiness to the crumb, and the crust baked to a quality I last achieved using the steam ovens in culinary school. Ken addressed the versatility of the recipe and how ingredients can be substituted within reason. I’ll for sure be making this one again! I may have to try some new flavor combinations and will share the Bread-a-Saurus with friends again. One thing I learned from my time in FoodCorps is that, whether food is grown or purchased from a local supplier - a grocery store or a farm stand, food is better with people. People should try new things, share their opinions, and experience the fruit and vegetables of the seasons.

Cheddar and Vegetable Bread-a-Saurus