The March harvest of the month is kumquats. Next month, it’s Persian cucumber.
That’s what’s on the menu at San Diego Unified’s “Cali-Qs” — farm-to-school barbecues the school district hosts for families at different elementary schools twice a week throughout the school year.
But this week’s event at Sherman Elementary aimed also to highlight the school food programs the district worries will be imperiled by federal funding cuts.
San Diego Unified got $700,000 in the first round of the local school food funding that was just cut, said Alicia Pitrone Hauser, the district’s nutrition services director. It spent that money on strawberries from Jamul and milk from a local dairy in San Marcos.
“That helped us to be able to offer those kinds of things to the kids and support our local economy, and so we won’t have that funding coming in,” said Hauser . “So we’re going to have to really scrutinize our budget.”
Rafael Perez, whose daughter Olivia is a kindergartener at Sherman, encourages lawmakers not to make any cuts when it comes to healthy foods.
“The quality of food that the kids get is critical to their success, and you need to invest in our future,” he said.
San Diego Unified’s main food programs are universal meals and the farm-to-school program, according to Luna. The district is in its third year of providing free meals for all students.
The district’s nutrition services hosts 300 salad bars around its schools. Through the 2023-2024 school year, it had spent $1.6 million buying over 140 tons of local produce from California farms.
Janelle Manzano, a program specialist, said the district partners with others as a collective through Community Health Improvement Partners to assess health issues and discuss their farm partners and how, and what, they’re serving kids.
At the Cali-Q this month at Sherman Elementary, students and families were offered burgers, veggie burgers or hot dogs. A salad bar featured Mexican street corn salad and sliced cucumbers, and there were strawberry popsicles for dessert — plus fat-free chocolate milk and 1% milk labeled Hollandia Dairy, founded in Escondido and based in San Marcos .
The salad bar is offered daily — but the harvest of the month is unique, with details printed on handouts.
This month, those handouts explain how to eat a kumquat: Roll or massage the fruit between your hands, and smell the citrus. You can eat the skin, and the more you chew, the sweeter the fruit gets.
The source of the citrus is farmer Ron Sahu of Sahu Subtropical Farms in Rainbow, said Manzano — and the school district buys the overwhelming majority of the kumquats he grows.
“And once we have a farmer locked in, it’s hard for them to stay away,” she said.
The program has introduced Denise Garcia-Lopez, who has a kindergartner and a fourth-grader, to new flavors for her family. “And then it has a conversation,” she said. “‘Oh, did you like the fruit? Oh, so did any other friends like it?’”
Silvia Leon has often wondered what her daughter Izel, a fifth-grader, eats at school, and if she’s choosing her food well. “I love that they give them choices, and I talk to her about what she picks,” she said.
Izel’s favorite produce is the salad, and the program has introduced her to hot dogs. She adds jalapeños and ketchup.
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