Farm-to-School in Fairbanks, Alaska: Using Alaska Grown Barley to Meet New Meal Patterns

If you have been reading Beyond Breakfast for awhile you might remember that I used to live in Fairbanks, Alaska, where two of my best friends worked for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension doing food research and education outreach. I recently reached out to my friend Kate Idzorek to talk with her about…

Meal Patterns: Information & Resources

Last summer we brought you information about meal patterns from the Annual National Conference in Nashville. At the conference we held sessions for school nutrition professionals, where the discussion centered around the USDA-proposed meal pattern changes that are on the horizon for school meals. We wanted to follow up with some additional information for our…

2011-12 Webinar Wednesday Series Update

Our Webinar Wednesday Series has begun for the 2011-12 season, and we are off to an amazing start. Our first webinar, “Best Practice: Menu Changes to Meet the New Proposed Meal Patterns,” was a smashing success with over 800 attendees on the live call! Sponsored by the National Dairy Council, the webinar explored menu and…

School Nutrition Foundation’s Webinar Wednesday 2011-12 Series Begins August 24

We are thrilled to announce that the School Nutrition Foundation’s popular Webinar Wednesday series is returning this month! The first two webinars of the 2011-12 season will focus on the new proposed meal patterns, and school nutrition professionals will not want to miss these very important discussions; the future of your program begins now! School…

New Meal Pattern Changes: What do they mean?

You can review the full text of the USDA child nutrition meal pattern changes. For additional information, you can also view this slideshow from USDA Food and Nutrition Service Child Nutrition Division. SNF held three listening sessions while in Nashville for ANC 2011. Sponsored by the National Dairy Council, these sessions were dedicated to discussion…

Ed Bruske on Breakfast in the Classroom

Today’s guest post was written by Ed Bruske, a.k.a The Slow Cook. Washington Post reporter-turned-food appreciation champion, Ed now works as a chef for clients with special needs. Ed also brings his message of food appreciation to students after school at Georgetown Day School. I met Ed at LAC 2011 but I have been reading…

Goodbye, Food Pyramid … Hello, MyPlate!

Last week we said goodbye to the food pyramid—our pictorial guideline for nutrition for almost 20 years—and said hello to MyPlate, our new visual guide for healthy eating. Introduced by first lady Michelle Obama, USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin the new 2011 food guide was unveiled at a press…

School Food Spotlight: Jan Poppendieck

When I was first approached by the School Nutrition Foundation about working on the Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom project, I started by reading Free for All: Fixing School Food in America by Jan Poppendieck. Jan is a sociologist, professor (Hunter College), and author; her faculty biography states: “Her primary concerns, both as a…

Breakfast Matters: Food Research and Action Center

One of our partners in Breakfast in the Classroom is the Food Research and Action Center. FRAC is the leading national nonprofit organization working in the area of hunger and malnutrition in the United States today. In addition to our upcoming webinar on coalition building, we wanted to let you know that FRAC also has…

Happy Anniversary “Let’s Move!” Campaign

The first lady’s “Let’s Move” program just celebrated its one year anniversary. Launched in February of 2010, the program was designed in response to rising childhood obesity rates in the United States. Mrs. Obama is currently on a press tour, speaking about the progress made in the first year of the program and what’s next…