March is National Nutrition Month and all of Coronado Unified School District (CUSD) school cafes will be serving up new food items from each of the five food groups throughout the month. The new menu items, created by the Child Nutrition Services (CNS) department, will come with age-level nutritional education as well as recipe cards for students to share with their families to try out at home.
The celebration kicked off with coconut water on March 3, “highlighting the fruit group and the benefits of consuming healthy drinks,” shared CNS Director Charity Campbell, MS, RD, SNS.
“The new and unique items we have planned for the month will be featured every Friday in March on our salad bars along with signage highlighting the nutritional benefits,” said CNS Supervisor Amanda Tarantino, MDA, RD, SNS.
“Highlights include an orzo salad as our grain item; a tri-colored bell pepper pasta salad as the vegetable item; a strawberry cottage cheese Jell-O salad for dairy; and a mung bean salad for protein,” said Tarantino.
Campbell and Tarantino have been preparing for months and are excited to share their passion for nutrition with students while bringing attention to the importance of making informed food choices and eating a variety of food items.
“We are always thrilled to see how many of our students love to try the new things we bring in throughout the year. And they love when we have recipe cards they can take home!” said Campbell, stressing the valuable educational opportunity the celebration will bring.
Source: Coronado Unified School District
