May 23, 2024 • 29 mins
Discover the untold story of America's food heroes—the dedicated individuals revolutionizing school cafeterias. Today's guest, Jiwon Jun from Eat Real, takes us on an inspiring journey into the heart of school food programs. By listening, you'll uncover the challenges and successes that come with integrating nutritious, locally-sourced meals into schools, especially in agricultural-rich rural areas. Together, we examine how the simple act of improving what's on our children's plates can ripple through communities, strengthening economies and fostering sustainable food practices.
Our conversation with Jiwon Jun reveals the sheer dedication of school food service staff, who serve an astounding 7 billion meals annually to 30 million students. We celebrate their relentless commitment to student health and their innovative approaches to sourcing high-quality local ingredients amidst tight schedules and regulations. These tireless warriors of well-being are not just filling bellies; they're empowering young minds with the fuel they need to thrive, while simultaneously bolstering local farmers and economies. It's about more than just food; it's about cultivating a better future for our kids and our communities.
By the end of our chat, you'll be moved by the personal stories that led both myself and our guest to champion school food reform, and you'll be armed with actionable insights on how small, rural communities can embark on this transformative path. We shine a light on districts like Paragould, Arkansas, and the Milan Special School District in Tennessee, where local produce and meats are making their way onto lunch trays, proving that change is possible, one meal at a time. Join us as we toast to these unsung heroes—the architects of a healthier generation—and explore how each of us can contribute to this noble cause.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You know every school district, regardless of how big
they are, how small they are,where they're located the urban,
suburban, rural they all comewith their own challenges.
I think it's particular withrural communities where there's
agriculture.
A lot of the agriculture ishappening around them, but I
think some of the times it's notthe farmers in the school
(00:24):
districts not knowing that theycould.
There's a partnership andthere's a really big potential
there.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to another edition of Small Talk, the
Communities Unlimited podcastdesigned to empower rural and
emerging communities.
My name is Chris Baker and oneof my favorite things about
hosting this podcast is thevariety of guests that we get
and the amount I get to learneach and every time we do a
podcast, and I have a feelingtoday is going to be no
(00:54):
different.
I'd like to welcome to thepodcast Jiwon Jun.
Jiwon is with an organizationcalled Eat Real.
You can find their website ateatrealorg and we're going to
talk today about healthy foodsin schools.
But, jiwon, welcome to thepodcast.
We'll start here.
Why don't you tell me what theK-12 director at Eat Real does?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah well, first off, thanks so much, chris for
having me.
I'm really excited to be here.
Eat Real, first off, is anonprofit, a national nonprofit,
and our mission is to nourishthe future of American school
children by putting real food onthe tables, at schools
especially, but also at homesand in our local and national
(01:35):
policy as well, and so,particularly with my job as the
director of K-12 programs, Isupport and run a program that
we call the Eat RealCertification Program, and so we
work directly with schooldistricts, public school
districts and their nutritiondepartments and their food
service leaders and the heroesthat work in those departments.
(01:56):
What we do is we support themand help them look at their meal
program in ways that they mightnot be looking at it in their
day to day.
So we, in our certificationprogram, we have what we call 10
eat real standards, and theykind of fall into two buckets.
There's the nutrition bucket,so we're looking at things you
know what, what kind of food isbeing served to the students.
(02:17):
So we're looking at things likereduced sugar.
We're looking at wholecarbohydrates, having healthy
fats, trying to use as muchminimal processing ingredients
as possible instead of the ultraprocessed.
So that's the nutrition bucketand then we have the other
bucket, which is aroundsustainability, and that covers
everything from where is thefood coming from?
It's trying to see as much ofthat coming from as local as
(02:40):
possible.
We're also looking at thingslike food waste and where are
the areas so we can reduce foodwaste.
And also education, teachingkids, having them be excited
about trying new foods, tryingthem for the first time, so that
they can create really healthylifelong habits that will take
them through all their adulthood.
So that's all covered undersustainability.
(03:01):
And so the certification program.
We know we measure a schoolmeal program against those 10
standards where there's 34 keymetrics and they really go above
and beyond the federalregulations and state
regulations that a school mealprogram has to meet.
We analyze that data, we givethem their report.
It's a very detailed report andwe use that to you know, show,
(03:23):
make sure, some opportunityareas if you would like to look
at places where you might wantto raise the bar or make changes
to, and also to reallycelebrate them and the great
work that they're doing.
And then we support them inwhatever changes that they want
to make that are complimentaryto their mission, to their goals
, that their department, has wecome back and do a final
assessment and with the goalthat they would be certified in
(03:46):
one of our four certificationtiers that we have.
So that in a nutshell kind ofcovers hopefully what Eat Real
does and the amazingcertification program that we
have and the incredible foodservice directors and the teams
that we get to work with.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, juwan, I was going to ask you.
You chose the word heroes.
Why did you choose that wordspecifically?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I mean, I think they truly are heroes.
They're the leaders and theheroes because they're feeding
the next generation of studentsand of kids, and I think it's
such an important job.
All across America.
School meals are serving 7billion meals a year across
(04:31):
America and that's for 30million students that eat those
school meals and they are doingthe incredible hard work of
feeding these students and a lotof these heroes really see them
as their own kiddos, like theyknow them by name.
They're asking how their day is,they're trying to get them to
(04:52):
be excited about, you know,trying a new food and making
sure that they're beingnourished physically so that
they can also be there in theclassroom, and so the work that
they do is just so.
They're so dedicated andthey're so caring for their
students and it's hard work thatthey do is just so.
They're so dedicated andthey're so caring for their
students and it's hard work thatthey're doing Like they're
running, basically, restaurantin their schools, having to meet
(05:14):
really important but strictregulations in terms of what
they can serve their studentsand trying to do that.
You know, trying to feedhundreds, sometimes thousands of
students, especially at a highschool level, in 10, 15 minutes,
20 minutes if you're lucky.
You have to be dedicated to thework that you do to do this, so
I that's why I really see themas school food heroes and how
(05:35):
Eat Real really sees them asschool food heroes.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, definitely.
One of the things that I havelearned, juwan, from working at
Communities Unlimited andworking with Brenda Williams,
our healthy foods coordinator,who I know you and her have
partnered on different projects,is that whatever the job title
is whether it be child nutritiondirector or some variation
thereof very, very difficult job.
(05:59):
I think one of the things I'dlike to explore with you is I've
picked up on when examining theschool food system is that a
lot of times the most efficientchoice is made instead of maybe
the best or healthiest choicesmade.
Financial efficiency sometimesis given higher importance than
some of the nutritionalmeasurements may be.
(06:21):
Can we talk a little bit abouthow we get healthier foods into
schools?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, that's a really good question, Chris.
I think, with as many answersright, there's multiple reasons
for kind of how we got here.
One is I think there was atrend with, when you think about
(06:47):
school more efficient, bothcost-wise and space as well, to
downsize and have anotherthird-party vendor potentially
come in and provide that food ordo a little bit more or less
scratch cooking, because thattakes staff, that takes
(07:07):
upgrading of equipment and theinfrastructure in these kitchens
.
And now you're really seeingthe trend coming back to wait a
minute, let's go back to doingscratch cooking and let's really
have that be a let have a lensof how can we also support our
local communities and the localeconomies.
I think we're really seeingwhat's really exciting about
school food is seeing thatmomentum really being built, and
(07:29):
I mean food service directors.
They have been doing this foryears.
But you know, as we always seewith the, there's a snowball
effect with the momentum.
When you see a school foodservice director doing this,
like oh, maybe I can implement alittle bit, that maybe I should
also be working with a localfarmer where I can get more
fresh, healthy, nutrient densefood that I can serve my
(07:49):
students, and you start thatrelationship with one farmer
that typically turns like let mefind the second one.
Let me find the third one.
I really want to be able toserve fresh bread or baked items
, but right now my kitchen isnot made for that.
I eventually would love to getthere.
In the meantime, why don't Iwork with a local bakery that is
in my community and build arecipe with them where they
(08:12):
might have the equipment and theinfrastructure to be able to
make hundreds of muffins for mystudents for breakfast and have
that be brought into my school?
And so I think it is reallyexciting to see the trend that
we're seeing moving forward.
Let's really build in farm toschool.
Let's really elevate our staffwho are in our kitchens.
Let's train them so that we cando more scratch cooking and
(08:34):
really build up our scratch cookmeal program.
All for the well-being and thehealth of students and also the
environment as well, Because weknow that the more local you can
keep it, the less the food hasto travel, the healthier the
food can be, and then you knowyou also just see that money
going back into the localeconomy and supporting your
community.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, juwan, that's a great segue to my next question
, because in rural communities,where Communities Unlimited
primarily works, I've got toimagine there are some unique
challenges.
And I think about this from theperspective of most rural
communities are where theagriculture work is, where the
(09:15):
agricultural products areproduced Farmers, ranchers,
those kind of things.
Does Eat Real have anyexperience with that?
That you can talk about that,the fact that in rural
communities, where agricultureis a way of life, it often
doesn't translate into theirschool food system.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, so right now we have we're actually working
with four school districts inrural Arkansas and Tennessee.
So we're looking at northwestTennessee and eastern Arkansas
and this is with the grant thatwe have with Communities
Unlimited, and working veryclosely with Brenda and with Dan
Spatz, who is the other partnerin this grant.
(09:57):
I think every school district,regardless of how big they are,
how small they are, wherethey're located whether it could
be urban, suburban, rural theyall come up with their own
challenges.
But I think it's particularwith rural communities where
there's agriculture, that's, alot of the agriculture is
happening around them, but Ithink some of the times it's not
(10:18):
the farmers in the schooldistricts not knowing that they
could.
There's a partnership andthere's a really big potential
there.
And so I know I mentioned, likefarm to school earlier and I
really do think you know farm toschool is and I really do think
farm to school is a bigoverarching part of that.
It's like knowing where yourfood comes from and knowing
where is it being grown, how isit being grown, and having that
(10:39):
at your table, building therelationships there so you can
bring those delicious, fresh,nutrient-dense foods into their
kitchens to serve their students.
And so I think the biggestchallenge is knowing that there
(11:00):
is a beautiful relationship thatcan be built there.
But it's like how do you knowwho those farmers are?
Because a lot of them are small, minority-owned, they're
women-owned, they'reveteran-owned, they might not
have websites, they're not onsocial media, they're so focused
on producing the crop or theproduct that they are that
they're not going to theconferences or the networking
events where they might be ableto meet each other.
(11:22):
And so I really do think there'sa big opportunity here to build
those relationships from thefarmers, the ranchers and with
the school districts.
And so I think that's like thebig barrier knowing who's around
you and who are those farmers.
And going up and asking like hi, I'm a school district, I feed
3000 students, I have threeschools, we are operating all
(11:45):
year round school meal programs.
These heroes are feeding offalso over the the summer too.
So going up to them being likeI would love to support you.
And there's so many districtswho want to be able to support
farmers but they don't know howto reach out or who's around.
And so I think building thoserelationships will really help
close the loop and build a verysustainable system.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I know it's not an easy question to answer, because
it's one of the reasons thatEat Real and Communities
Unlimited exists, right.
I almost feel like it's one ofthose situations where, like a
small-scale farmer needs, likean agent, like a sports agent,
almost you know.
Is there a couple of examplesyou could tell me of an
organization that might be doingit right?
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah, so one.
This all kind of goes back toour certification program.
I'd like to point to that is wereally do encourage and want to
see farm to school happening inall of the districts that we're
working with.
And there are districts thatare, you know, some of them are
just getting started in thatjourney and some of them have,
you know, really doubled theamount of farmers and ranchers
(12:49):
that they are working with.
And you're already reallyseeing that in Arkansas and
Tennessee, with these incredibledistricts that we're working
with, and what we're reallythere to do is to be able to
kind of look at their mealprogram in ways that they might
not be looking at.
So, for an example is we'relooking at how many pounds of
produce is a district procuring.
Just actually, last week I wasin Arkansas and Tennessee
(13:11):
delivering the baseline reportsto these districts, being able
to give them data that says, hey, you produced or you're
procured 10,000 pounds of freshproduce for your students in the
month of October.
That's a huge amount of producethat they're taking that is
fresh.
That's a huge amount of producethat they're taking that is
fresh that they have to cut andclean and get it ready for the
(13:34):
line themselves and to be ableto serve their students.
There's just a lot of productto move from getting it from
their farmers to the trays ofthe students.
Eat Real is really there tosupport the school districts and
(13:56):
being able to tell their storyand to really be able to
celebrate all the work thatthey're doing.
So one district in ArkansasParagold School District like
they really want to work withthe local farmers that are
around their area but a lot ofthe produce is being kind of the
harvest month or kind of latesummer, right, and kind of in
between the time when, like,school is really not in session.
But they really were able tothink about okay, I really want
to procure from a local farmer,so let me get okra from this
local farmer that's around meand I'm going to process, clean
(14:20):
it, process it, freeze it sothat I can have this product
still in its nutrient dense formbecause freezing keeps the
nutrients there and being ableto serve that later in September
, october, november, when thestudents are here in school.
And so you just see thesedirectors have just creative
solutions because they want todo more, they want to do more
(14:43):
for their students, they want toraise the bar and they want to
support their local farmers.
So they're going above andbeyond and trying to figure out
how can, what can I do here andhow can I support a local farmer
?
So you see, these just reallycreative ideas of what school
districts are doing to be ableto work with the local farmers
and bringing it to theirstudents.
And I think Eat Real you knowwe're really there to help
(15:05):
capture some of that data,seeing like, hey, 6% of your
produce is coming from localfarmers and then being and let's
really celebrate that, and thatalso kind of lights a fire to
be like I want to do more.
How can I raise that?
How can I double that in thenext like two years?
I just feel really lucky that Iget to work with these
incredibly like talented,problem solving, caring,
(15:30):
motivated school food heroes andbe able to help them tell their
story and to really celebratewhat they're doing and to help
them with their very, you know,ambitious goals of how can I do
better, how can I do more?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Just to reset things a little bit.
You're listening to theCommunities Unlimited podcast
called Small Talk.
My name is Chris BakerUnlimited podcast called Small
Talk.
My name is Chris Baker andtoday we're speaking with Jiwon
Jun.
Jiwon is the K-12 director atEat Real.
Their website is eatrealorg.
Jiwon.
How do we get more of thoseschool food heroes?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I think a big part of that is really being able to
tell the story and showing thatthis is possible and that other
folks and other districts can dothis as well.
I mean, I think all thesolutions and all of the
creative ideas that a districthas, that all comes from these
school food heroes.
Giving them the stage or givingthem the platform to be able to
(16:24):
share.
Here's what I've done, here'swhat I've learned, here's some
best practices, here's some tipsand tricks.
Being able to share that withtheir peers, I think is
incredibly important.
I think you know me includedsometimes you're you kind of get
stuck in inertia, right, andyou're like, okay, I'm doing
what I need to do.
And there are a lot of folkswho are like I want to do more
and I want better, but you don'tknow quite how to do that.
(16:45):
And so seeing these models,role models of folks who are
testing out new ideas and beingable to share that, I think, is
just is is really a key part tothen motivate and inspire
another food service directorand their team to be like let me
try that, let me okay, let mereach out to the local farmer
and be able to get start offwith one product and see what we
(17:07):
can do with that.
Okay, now let's get a secondproduce, now let's get a third,
and so I think it's really justkind of being able to share it
so you can create a spark.
That spark just continues tolight everywhere.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, I mean.
I personally want to live in aworld where my kids go to school
and they're eating a variety offood.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
It shouldn't be the same if they're going to school
in Montana as it is, if they'regoing to school in Arkansas,
right, I mean it all shouldn'tbe the same.
It should?
Yeah, absolutely, and I thinkyou know that's the beauty of
learning and knowing what isgrown locally and working with,
you know, those farmers and theranchers that are creating the
produce and the animal productsthat really can come into school
food.
Let's really celebrate that,like in Arkansas, tennessee,
like okra is big, and let's,let's really celebrate that,
like in in Arkansas, tennessee,like okra is is big, and you
(17:54):
know, in other places that'sgoing to be.
Let's really take advantage ofthe fruits that might be growing
there, right, or like otherdifferent types of vegetables.
So I think, I think you'reright, chris, that like it
should be, let's reallycelebrate what can be locally
grown in in the area that aschool district is and let's see
that on the menus.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
How did you wind up at Eat Real?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Is this just like a passion of yours, or I think
kind of like you, chris, I wasalways interested in food.
Where I thought I would be inwas around more on like the
policy side.
So after I graduated I went toDC to try and really get into
like the international foodsecurity policy world and
learned a lot from that.
When I had the opportunity tokind of shift and see like, is
(18:36):
this what I want to do?
I really loved.
I wanted to stay in school ornot?
I wanted to stay in foodsecurity.
I was like, okay, I've done thevery high level, but what is it
like to do that on the ground?
I really want to be able to seethe impacts that the work you
might be doing can have in thecommunity.
I really accidentally, kind ofjust stumbled upon school food.
(18:57):
I felt like, okay, let me lookat nonprofits.
Let me look at you know whatare foundations doing.
Let me look at you know foodbanks, and maybe that's like the
area that I can get into.
And I never thought aboutschool meals.
Like I said earlier, schoolmeals it is the largest
restaurant chain in America.
If you would think about justschools as restaurants, like
(19:18):
it's more than the three biggestrestaurants named Starbucks,
subway and McDonald's combined.
They're larger than those three.
They're feeding, like I said, 7billion meals every single year
to 30 million students.
20 million of those 30 millionstudents, their families,
qualify for free and reducedmeals.
They're the ones who can reallybenefit from having a reliable
(19:40):
meal, multiple meals, every day.
It's like, yeah, this feels likea no brainer, like I want to
work on food security, likeschool food is doing that.
So I should like be here and tobe able to work with those
folks who I keep saying are ourheroes, the ones who are just so
dedicated, who are so caringand who want to do more for
their students and for theircommunity.
And they're doing this everysingle day.
(20:01):
I'm like, yeah, like whywouldn't I want to support that.
So it was an accidentaldiscovery.
But since I've been here, I'mlike, yeah, there's no other
place I'd want to be and noother people that I want to be
able to elevate and support.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It's crazy how big that is when you think about it
on that scale.
I mean, if you're thinkingabout working in food industry.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
somehow, why not go after the biggest right and why
not go after the youngest Canmost influence their food
choices for the future right?
Absolutely, I mean it's.
They are a future generationand I do think like we need to
do everything we can to makesure that they have healthy, you
know lives, that they arenourished both mentally,
physically, and that they dohave, you know, a chance to
thrive.
It's working with those foods,school food heroes, but it's
also supporting and making surethat the future generation is
(20:52):
set for the rest of their livesas well, All right.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
So my hope is that there's some small rural
community listening to ourpodcast Maybe it's a child
nutrition director and they'reinterested.
They're saying I'm in, I don'tknow how to start, but I'm in.
How would you recommend they goabout getting started?
What should be the first coupleof things they should do?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
That's a good question.
I feel like there's so manyways to get started.
It's hard to figure out like,okay, what is the one way that I
can get started?
But one I think is if you finda food service director who
inspires you, reach out to themand talk to them, because
majority of the time they'relike yes, I want to be able to
share what I have done and beable to share that with my other
(21:34):
peers who are interested.
So I think that's one way.
Another way is it is to reachout to a local farmer or a
vendor that you are interestedin working with and just
starting that conversation andbuilding that relationship,
because you might be startingoff with, like, okay, let me be
able to procure, you know, thisproduce during this month.
(21:55):
That's amazing.
Like that's a huge amount ofwork to be able to get you know
10 pounds of produce have fortheir department and we can
(22:27):
connect them to local nonprofits, national nonprofits that might
be able to help them with thegoals that they have.
So I think it's going in with amindset of okay, how can I
learn and who could I go to?
And starting with the folks whodo inspire you.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, so basically start small and figure it out,
build upon.
It Makes sense.
Do you have a couple ofexamples of school districts out
there that you're proud of thatyou could say, man, these
people are doing it right.
Is there something that you cansay?
Point two people could Google,find out what they're doing,
maybe find out a contact.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, so I mean the Paragold School District, the
one that I really want to givethem a shout out in eastern
Arkansas for always being openand willing to have
conversations with their localfarmers and finding ways that
they can serve, like creativeways that they can serve that
produce to students when they'rereally in session in the school
(23:17):
year.
I think that's just genius inthe school year.
I think that's just genius.
Milan Special School Districtin Tennessee.
I know their team.
They're also doing a lot whenit comes to supporting their
local farmers and ranchers.
So the food service director,vicky, that I met with last week
, she was saying like yeah, theother day I went to pick up the
(23:38):
strawberries from the localfarmer myself who is four miles
down from where our kitchens are.
They're just so dedicated.
I want to pick up thestrawberries from the local
farmer myself who is four milesdown from where our kitchens are
.
Like they're just so dedicated,I want to serve these fresh,
delicious strawberries.
I will also go and pick it upmyself to make sure our students
have that.
They're also procuring rawlocal beef patties from their
ranchers that are in theircommunity.
(23:59):
They are cooking them in theircombi ovens that have the smoker
function so that like the smellgets in.
We all know like the smokedmeats has a very delicious smell
.
The students and the staff getso excited you know their mouths
are salivating and they're justso excited to eat this burger
that comes from a local rancherand just be able to walk in the
(24:21):
cafeteria and have that smelland be able to eat that Like.
How incredibly special is that.
The other school I really wantto highlight, also in Tennessee,
is Trenton Special SchoolDistrict and the food service
director, lisa, and her team.
There.
They are working really closelywith their FFA, their ag
department, and they're reallyactually bringing farm to school
, like on campus, like at theirschool site.
(24:43):
The students there are raisingchickens and those eggs that the
chickens produce are going tothe school kitchens so that they
can serve it on their salad baror in their food.
All of the compost that isbeing produced is actually going
back to the chickens so thechickens can eat that.
So it's like I feel like I'mjust providing such only
examples here, chris, but likeit's just so inspiring to see
(25:07):
food service directors and theirteams, because their day to day
is really difficult.
They're serving hundreds orthousands of students in a very
short amount of time, meetingvery important and strict
regulations.
That just in itself is ahumongous job Like that's a
full-time job.
And yet you have these foodservice directors who are like
(25:29):
how can I do more?
How can I raise the bar?
What can I do for my students?
How can I support my localcommunity?
They're just going above andbeyond to find these small but
impactful solutions to be ableto feed their students.
I keep coming back to.
They really are the school foodheroes, chris, and I hope I was
able to kind of be able toprovide examples of how they're
(25:49):
truly heroes.
But yeah, they really are.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, it's interesting because when it
comes to innovation in theschool system, I can almost
guarantee that no one thinksabout the lunch program.
When it comes to innovation,they probably think about the
math program or the scienceprogram, but the lunch program
is probably one of the morefoundational one, the one that
needs the type of innovationthat you're talking about, juwan
(26:14):
, and it's not an easy taskBringing in those locally
produced meats and produce intothe school system, into the
lunch menu Monumental, not inhidden ways like in sauces and
(26:48):
in condiments and like we'relooking at grains, especially
breakfast grains there can be alot of sugar that's hidden in
those and to be able to reallyshare with the district that by
looking at their sugar andtrying to remove added sugar
from their menus, that theyremoved 10 to 15 pounds of added
sugar per student per year.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
We just had one district who certified Morgan
Hill, unified in California.
They removed 34 pounds of addedsugar per student per year 34
pounds.
We were also able to share withthe school district Pajaro
Valley, unified in California,as well, that within one year
(27:28):
that they were able to doublethe amount of local produce that
they were procuring from theirfarmers.
They're a bigger school, sothey went from about 22,000
pounds in one month to 44,000pounds in one and a half years,
all of that being local.
I have so many more of theseexamples, chris, and that could
(27:48):
be a whole other podcast episode, but it truly is.
There can be innovation inschool meals and in school food,
but those innovations arealready happening, like the food
service directors and theirteams are already coming up with
those innovative, creativesolutions.
But it's like how can we tellthat story and how can we share
(28:08):
that and shout that from therooftops.
That's really the story thatneeds to be shared.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Jiwon Jun, you are the K-12 director of the program
at Eat Real.
The website is eatrealorg.
I agree with you.
I think we've barely scratchedthe surface on this topic and I
would love to revisit it withyou in the near future on
another episode.
Are you willing?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
We should also have these foodservice directors, especially
the ones in Tennessee andArkansas, come join so we can
hear directly from them of thework that they're doing and
really hear from the actualschool food heroes themselves.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I 100% agree with you , g1.
After we get off of here, we'regoing to talk and we're going
to make that happen.
Well, thanks for listening toSmall Talk, the Community's
Unlimited podcast.
My name is Chris Baker.
G1 Jun is the guest today.
G1 is from Eat Real.
Their website is eatrealorg.
Please, please, please, go byand check it out If you're at
all interested in healthierfoods on your kids' lunch menu.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
up the school food directors and the heroes
themselves and and really it'sthe local, local community as
(29:27):
well.
So, like the farmers and theranchers, because this is this
is the important work thatthey're doing, and so just
really excited to be able toshare a little little nugget
into the amazing work thatthey're doing- the chicken
nugget right no-transcript.
You know every school district, regardless of how big
they are, how small they are,where they're located the urban,
suburban, rural they all comewith their own challenges.
I think it's particular withrural communities where there's
agriculture.
A lot of the agriculture ishappening around them, but I
think some of the times it's notthe farmers in the school
(00:24):
districts not knowing that theycould.
There's a partnership andthere's a really big potential
there.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to another edition of Small Talk, the
Communities Unlimited podcastdesigned to empower rural and
emerging communities.
My name is Chris Baker and oneof my favorite things about
hosting this podcast is thevariety of guests that we get
and the amount I get to learneach and every time we do a
podcast, and I have a feelingtoday is going to be no
(00:54):
different.
I'd like to welcome to thepodcast Jiwon Jun.
Jiwon is with an organizationcalled Eat Real.
You can find their website ateatrealorg and we're going to
talk today about healthy foodsin schools.
But, jiwon, welcome to thepodcast.
We'll start here.
Why don't you tell me what theK-12 director at Eat Real does?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah well, first off, thanks so much, chris for
having me.
I'm really excited to be here.
Eat Real, first off, is anonprofit, a national nonprofit,
and our mission is to nourishthe future of American school
children by putting real food onthe tables, at schools
especially, but also at homesand in our local and national
(01:35):
policy as well, and so,particularly with my job as the
director of K-12 programs, Isupport and run a program that
we call the Eat RealCertification Program, and so we
work directly with schooldistricts, public school
districts and their nutritiondepartments and their food
service leaders and the heroesthat work in those departments.
(01:56):
What we do is we support themand help them look at their meal
program in ways that they mightnot be looking at it in their
day to day.
So we, in our certificationprogram, we have what we call 10
eat real standards, and theykind of fall into two buckets.
There's the nutrition bucket,so we're looking at things you
know what, what kind of food isbeing served to the students.
(02:17):
So we're looking at things likereduced sugar.
We're looking at wholecarbohydrates, having healthy
fats, trying to use as muchminimal processing ingredients
as possible instead of the ultraprocessed.
So that's the nutrition bucketand then we have the other
bucket, which is aroundsustainability, and that covers
everything from where is thefood coming from?
It's trying to see as much ofthat coming from as local as
(02:40):
possible.
We're also looking at thingslike food waste and where are
the areas so we can reduce foodwaste.
And also education, teachingkids, having them be excited
about trying new foods, tryingthem for the first time, so that
they can create really healthylifelong habits that will take
them through all their adulthood.
So that's all covered undersustainability.
(03:01):
And so the certification program.
We know we measure a schoolmeal program against those 10
standards where there's 34 keymetrics and they really go above
and beyond the federalregulations and state
regulations that a school mealprogram has to meet.
We analyze that data, we givethem their report.
It's a very detailed report andwe use that to you know, show,
(03:23):
make sure, some opportunityareas if you would like to look
at places where you might wantto raise the bar or make changes
to, and also to reallycelebrate them and the great
work that they're doing.
And then we support them inwhatever changes that they want
to make that are complimentaryto their mission, to their goals
, that their department, has wecome back and do a final
assessment and with the goalthat they would be certified in
(03:46):
one of our four certificationtiers that we have.
So that in a nutshell kind ofcovers hopefully what Eat Real
does and the amazingcertification program that we
have and the incredible foodservice directors and the teams
that we get to work with.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, juwan, I was going to ask you.
You chose the word heroes.
Why did you choose that wordspecifically?
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I mean, I think they truly are heroes.
They're the leaders and theheroes because they're feeding
the next generation of studentsand of kids, and I think it's
such an important job.
All across America.
School meals are serving 7billion meals a year across
(04:31):
America and that's for 30million students that eat those
school meals and they are doingthe incredible hard work of
feeding these students and a lotof these heroes really see them
as their own kiddos, like theyknow them by name.
They're asking how their day is,they're trying to get them to
(04:52):
be excited about, you know,trying a new food and making
sure that they're beingnourished physically so that
they can also be there in theclassroom, and so the work that
they do is just so.
They're so dedicated andthey're so caring for their
students and it's hard work thatthey do is just so.
They're so dedicated andthey're so caring for their
students and it's hard work thatthey're doing Like they're
running, basically, restaurantin their schools, having to meet
(05:14):
really important but strictregulations in terms of what
they can serve their studentsand trying to do that.
You know, trying to feedhundreds, sometimes thousands of
students, especially at a highschool level, in 10, 15 minutes,
20 minutes if you're lucky.
You have to be dedicated to thework that you do to do this, so
I that's why I really see themas school food heroes and how
(05:35):
Eat Real really sees them asschool food heroes.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, definitely.
One of the things that I havelearned, juwan, from working at
Communities Unlimited andworking with Brenda Williams,
our healthy foods coordinator,who I know you and her have
partnered on different projects,is that whatever the job title
is whether it be child nutritiondirector or some variation
thereof very, very difficult job.
(05:59):
I think one of the things I'dlike to explore with you is I've
picked up on when examining theschool food system is that a
lot of times the most efficientchoice is made instead of maybe
the best or healthiest choicesmade.
Financial efficiency sometimesis given higher importance than
some of the nutritionalmeasurements may be.
(06:21):
Can we talk a little bit abouthow we get healthier foods into
schools?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, that's a really good question, Chris.
I think, with as many answersright, there's multiple reasons
for kind of how we got here.
One is I think there was atrend with, when you think about
(06:47):
school more efficient, bothcost-wise and space as well, to
downsize and have anotherthird-party vendor potentially
come in and provide that food ordo a little bit more or less
scratch cooking, because thattakes staff, that takes
(07:07):
upgrading of equipment and theinfrastructure in these kitchens
.
And now you're really seeingthe trend coming back to wait a
minute, let's go back to doingscratch cooking and let's really
have that be a let have a lensof how can we also support our
local communities and the localeconomies.
I think we're really seeingwhat's really exciting about
school food is seeing thatmomentum really being built, and
(07:29):
I mean food service directors.
They have been doing this foryears.
But you know, as we always seewith the, there's a snowball
effect with the momentum.
When you see a school foodservice director doing this,
like oh, maybe I can implement alittle bit, that maybe I should
also be working with a localfarmer where I can get more
fresh, healthy, nutrient densefood that I can serve my
(07:49):
students, and you start thatrelationship with one farmer
that typically turns like let mefind the second one.
Let me find the third one.
I really want to be able toserve fresh bread or baked items
, but right now my kitchen isnot made for that.
I eventually would love to getthere.
In the meantime, why don't Iwork with a local bakery that is
in my community and build arecipe with them where they
(08:12):
might have the equipment and theinfrastructure to be able to
make hundreds of muffins for mystudents for breakfast and have
that be brought into my school?
And so I think it is reallyexciting to see the trend that
we're seeing moving forward.
Let's really build in farm toschool.
Let's really elevate our staffwho are in our kitchens.
Let's train them so that we cando more scratch cooking and
(08:34):
really build up our scratch cookmeal program.
All for the well-being and thehealth of students and also the
environment as well, Because weknow that the more local you can
keep it, the less the food hasto travel, the healthier the
food can be, and then you knowyou also just see that money
going back into the localeconomy and supporting your
community.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, juwan, that's a great segue to my next question
, because in rural communities,where Communities Unlimited
primarily works, I've got toimagine there are some unique
challenges.
And I think about this from theperspective of most rural
communities are where theagriculture work is, where the
(09:15):
agricultural products areproduced Farmers, ranchers,
those kind of things.
Does Eat Real have anyexperience with that?
That you can talk about that,the fact that in rural
communities, where agricultureis a way of life, it often
doesn't translate into theirschool food system.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, so right now we have we're actually working
with four school districts inrural Arkansas and Tennessee.
So we're looking at northwestTennessee and eastern Arkansas
and this is with the grant thatwe have with Communities
Unlimited, and working veryclosely with Brenda and with Dan
Spatz, who is the other partnerin this grant.
(09:57):
I think every school district,regardless of how big they are,
how small they are, wherethey're located whether it could
be urban, suburban, rural theyall come up with their own
challenges.
But I think it's particularwith rural communities where
there's agriculture, that's, alot of the agriculture is
happening around them, but Ithink some of the times it's not
(10:18):
the farmers in the schooldistricts not knowing that they
could.
There's a partnership andthere's a really big potential
there.
And so I know I mentioned, likefarm to school earlier and I
really do think you know farm toschool is and I really do think
farm to school is a bigoverarching part of that.
It's like knowing where yourfood comes from and knowing
where is it being grown, how isit being grown, and having that
(10:39):
at your table, building therelationships there so you can
bring those delicious, fresh,nutrient-dense foods into their
kitchens to serve their students.
And so I think the biggestchallenge is knowing that there
(11:00):
is a beautiful relationship thatcan be built there.
But it's like how do you knowwho those farmers are?
Because a lot of them are small, minority-owned, they're
women-owned, they'reveteran-owned, they might not
have websites, they're not onsocial media, they're so focused
on producing the crop or theproduct that they are that
they're not going to theconferences or the networking
events where they might be ableto meet each other.
(11:22):
And so I really do think there'sa big opportunity here to build
those relationships from thefarmers, the ranchers and with
the school districts.
And so I think that's like thebig barrier knowing who's around
you and who are those farmers.
And going up and asking like hi, I'm a school district, I feed
3000 students, I have threeschools, we are operating all
(11:45):
year round school meal programs.
These heroes are feeding offalso over the the summer too.
So going up to them being likeI would love to support you.
And there's so many districtswho want to be able to support
farmers but they don't know howto reach out or who's around.
And so I think building thoserelationships will really help
close the loop and build a verysustainable system.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I know it's not an easy question to answer, because
it's one of the reasons thatEat Real and Communities
Unlimited exists, right.
I almost feel like it's one ofthose situations where, like a
small-scale farmer needs, likean agent, like a sports agent,
almost you know.
Is there a couple of examplesyou could tell me of an
organization that might be doingit right?
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Yeah, so one.
This all kind of goes back toour certification program.
I'd like to point to that is wereally do encourage and want to
see farm to school happening inall of the districts that we're
working with.
And there are districts thatare, you know, some of them are
just getting started in thatjourney and some of them have,
you know, really doubled theamount of farmers and ranchers
(12:49):
that they are working with.
And you're already reallyseeing that in Arkansas and
Tennessee, with these incredibledistricts that we're working
with, and what we're reallythere to do is to be able to
kind of look at their mealprogram in ways that they might
not be looking at.
So, for an example is we'relooking at how many pounds of
produce is a district procuring.
Just actually, last week I wasin Arkansas and Tennessee
(13:11):
delivering the baseline reportsto these districts, being able
to give them data that says, hey, you produced or you're
procured 10,000 pounds of freshproduce for your students in the
month of October.
That's a huge amount of producethat they're taking that is
fresh.
That's a huge amount of producethat they're taking that is
fresh that they have to cut andclean and get it ready for the
(13:34):
line themselves and to be ableto serve their students.
There's just a lot of productto move from getting it from
their farmers to the trays ofthe students.
Eat Real is really there tosupport the school districts and
(13:56):
being able to tell their storyand to really be able to
celebrate all the work thatthey're doing.
So one district in ArkansasParagold School District like
they really want to work withthe local farmers that are
around their area but a lot ofthe produce is being kind of the
harvest month or kind of latesummer, right, and kind of in
between the time when, like,school is really not in session.
But they really were able tothink about okay, I really want
to procure from a local farmer,so let me get okra from this
local farmer that's around meand I'm going to process, clean
(14:20):
it, process it, freeze it sothat I can have this product
still in its nutrient dense formbecause freezing keeps the
nutrients there and being ableto serve that later in September
, october, november, when thestudents are here in school.
And so you just see thesedirectors have just creative
solutions because they want todo more, they want to do more
(14:43):
for their students, they want toraise the bar and they want to
support their local farmers.
So they're going above andbeyond and trying to figure out
how can, what can I do here andhow can I support a local farmer
?
So you see, these just reallycreative ideas of what school
districts are doing to be ableto work with the local farmers
and bringing it to theirstudents.
And I think Eat Real you knowwe're really there to help
(15:05):
capture some of that data,seeing like, hey, 6% of your
produce is coming from localfarmers and then being and let's
really celebrate that, and thatalso kind of lights a fire to
be like I want to do more.
How can I raise that?
How can I double that in thenext like two years?
I just feel really lucky that Iget to work with these
incredibly like talented,problem solving, caring,
(15:30):
motivated school food heroes andbe able to help them tell their
story and to really celebratewhat they're doing and to help
them with their very, you know,ambitious goals of how can I do
better, how can I do more?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Just to reset things a little bit.
You're listening to theCommunities Unlimited podcast
called Small Talk.
My name is Chris BakerUnlimited podcast called Small
Talk.
My name is Chris Baker andtoday we're speaking with Jiwon
Jun.
Jiwon is the K-12 director atEat Real.
Their website is eatrealorg.
Jiwon.
How do we get more of thoseschool food heroes?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I think a big part of that is really being able to
tell the story and showing thatthis is possible and that other
folks and other districts can dothis as well.
I mean, I think all thesolutions and all of the
creative ideas that a districthas, that all comes from these
school food heroes.
Giving them the stage or givingthem the platform to be able to
(16:24):
share.
Here's what I've done, here'swhat I've learned, here's some
best practices, here's some tipsand tricks.
Being able to share that withtheir peers, I think is
incredibly important.
I think you know me includedsometimes you're you kind of get
stuck in inertia, right, andyou're like, okay, I'm doing
what I need to do.
And there are a lot of folkswho are like I want to do more
and I want better, but you don'tknow quite how to do that.
(16:45):
And so seeing these models,role models of folks who are
testing out new ideas and beingable to share that, I think, is
just is is really a key part tothen motivate and inspire
another food service directorand their team to be like let me
try that, let me okay, let mereach out to the local farmer
and be able to get start offwith one product and see what we
(17:07):
can do with that.
Okay, now let's get a secondproduce, now let's get a third,
and so I think it's really justkind of being able to share it
so you can create a spark.
That spark just continues tolight everywhere.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, I mean.
I personally want to live in aworld where my kids go to school
and they're eating a variety offood.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
It shouldn't be the same if they're going to school
in Montana as it is, if they'regoing to school in Arkansas,
right, I mean it all shouldn'tbe the same.
It should?
Yeah, absolutely, and I thinkyou know that's the beauty of
learning and knowing what isgrown locally and working with,
you know, those farmers and theranchers that are creating the
produce and the animal productsthat really can come into school
food.
Let's really celebrate that,like in Arkansas, tennessee,
like okra is big, and let's,let's really celebrate that,
like in in Arkansas, tennessee,like okra is is big, and you
(17:54):
know, in other places that'sgoing to be.
Let's really take advantage ofthe fruits that might be growing
there, right, or like otherdifferent types of vegetables.
So I think, I think you'reright, chris, that like it
should be, let's reallycelebrate what can be locally
grown in in the area that aschool district is and let's see
that on the menus.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
How did you wind up at Eat Real?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Is this just like a passion of yours, or I think
kind of like you, chris, I wasalways interested in food.
Where I thought I would be inwas around more on like the
policy side.
So after I graduated I went toDC to try and really get into
like the international foodsecurity policy world and
learned a lot from that.
When I had the opportunity tokind of shift and see like, is
(18:36):
this what I want to do?
I really loved.
I wanted to stay in school ornot?
I wanted to stay in foodsecurity.
I was like, okay, I've done thevery high level, but what is it
like to do that on the ground?
I really want to be able to seethe impacts that the work you
might be doing can have in thecommunity.
I really accidentally, kind ofjust stumbled upon school food.
(18:57):
I felt like, okay, let me lookat nonprofits.
Let me look at you know whatare foundations doing.
Let me look at you know foodbanks, and maybe that's like the
area that I can get into.
And I never thought aboutschool meals.
Like I said earlier, schoolmeals it is the largest
restaurant chain in America.
If you would think about justschools as restaurants, like
(19:18):
it's more than the three biggestrestaurants named Starbucks,
subway and McDonald's combined.
They're larger than those three.
They're feeding, like I said, 7billion meals every single year
to 30 million students.
20 million of those 30 millionstudents, their families,
qualify for free and reducedmeals.
They're the ones who can reallybenefit from having a reliable
(19:40):
meal, multiple meals, every day.
It's like, yeah, this feels likea no brainer, like I want to
work on food security, likeschool food is doing that.
So I should like be here and tobe able to work with those
folks who I keep saying are ourheroes, the ones who are just so
dedicated, who are so caringand who want to do more for
their students and for theircommunity.
And they're doing this everysingle day.
(20:01):
I'm like, yeah, like whywouldn't I want to support that.
So it was an accidentaldiscovery.
But since I've been here, I'mlike, yeah, there's no other
place I'd want to be and noother people that I want to be
able to elevate and support.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It's crazy how big that is when you think about it
on that scale.
I mean, if you're thinkingabout working in food industry.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
somehow, why not go after the biggest right and why
not go after the youngest Canmost influence their food
choices for the future right?
Absolutely, I mean it's.
They are a future generationand I do think like we need to
do everything we can to makesure that they have healthy, you
know lives, that they arenourished both mentally,
physically, and that they dohave, you know, a chance to
thrive.
It's working with those foods,school food heroes, but it's
also supporting and making surethat the future generation is
(20:52):
set for the rest of their livesas well, All right.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
So my hope is that there's some small rural
community listening to ourpodcast Maybe it's a child
nutrition director and they'reinterested.
They're saying I'm in, I don'tknow how to start, but I'm in.
How would you recommend they goabout getting started?
What should be the first coupleof things they should do?
Speaker 1 (21:11):
That's a good question.
I feel like there's so manyways to get started.
It's hard to figure out like,okay, what is the one way that I
can get started?
But one I think is if you finda food service director who
inspires you, reach out to themand talk to them, because
majority of the time they'relike yes, I want to be able to
share what I have done and beable to share that with my other
(21:34):
peers who are interested.
So I think that's one way.
Another way is it is to reachout to a local farmer or a
vendor that you are interestedin working with and just
starting that conversation andbuilding that relationship,
because you might be startingoff with, like, okay, let me be
able to procure, you know, thisproduce during this month.
(21:55):
That's amazing.
Like that's a huge amount ofwork to be able to get you know
10 pounds of produce have fortheir department and we can
(22:27):
connect them to local nonprofits, national nonprofits that might
be able to help them with thegoals that they have.
So I think it's going in with amindset of okay, how can I
learn and who could I go to?
And starting with the folks whodo inspire you.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, so basically start small and figure it out,
build upon.
It Makes sense.
Do you have a couple ofexamples of school districts out
there that you're proud of thatyou could say, man, these
people are doing it right.
Is there something that you cansay?
Point two people could Google,find out what they're doing,
maybe find out a contact.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, so I mean the Paragold School District, the
one that I really want to givethem a shout out in eastern
Arkansas for always being openand willing to have
conversations with their localfarmers and finding ways that
they can serve, like creativeways that they can serve that
produce to students when they'rereally in session in the school
(23:17):
year.
I think that's just genius inthe school year.
I think that's just genius.
Milan Special School Districtin Tennessee.
I know their team.
They're also doing a lot whenit comes to supporting their
local farmers and ranchers.
So the food service director,vicky, that I met with last week
, she was saying like yeah, theother day I went to pick up the
(23:38):
strawberries from the localfarmer myself who is four miles
down from where our kitchens are.
They're just so dedicated.
I want to pick up thestrawberries from the local
farmer myself who is four milesdown from where our kitchens are
.
Like they're just so dedicated,I want to serve these fresh,
delicious strawberries.
I will also go and pick it upmyself to make sure our students
have that.
They're also procuring rawlocal beef patties from their
ranchers that are in theircommunity.
(23:59):
They are cooking them in theircombi ovens that have the smoker
function so that like the smellgets in.
We all know like the smokedmeats has a very delicious smell
.
The students and the staff getso excited you know their mouths
are salivating and they're justso excited to eat this burger
that comes from a local rancherand just be able to walk in the
(24:21):
cafeteria and have that smelland be able to eat that Like.
How incredibly special is that.
The other school I really wantto highlight, also in Tennessee,
is Trenton Special SchoolDistrict and the food service
director, lisa, and her team.
There.
They are working really closelywith their FFA, their ag
department, and they're reallyactually bringing farm to school
, like on campus, like at theirschool site.
(24:43):
The students there are raisingchickens and those eggs that the
chickens produce are going tothe school kitchens so that they
can serve it on their salad baror in their food.
All of the compost that isbeing produced is actually going
back to the chickens so thechickens can eat that.
So it's like I feel like I'mjust providing such only
examples here, chris, but likeit's just so inspiring to see
(25:07):
food service directors and theirteams, because their day to day
is really difficult.
They're serving hundreds orthousands of students in a very
short amount of time, meetingvery important and strict
regulations.
That just in itself is ahumongous job Like that's a
full-time job.
And yet you have these foodservice directors who are like
(25:29):
how can I do more?
How can I raise the bar?
What can I do for my students?
How can I support my localcommunity?
They're just going above andbeyond to find these small but
impactful solutions to be ableto feed their students.
I keep coming back to.
They really are the school foodheroes, chris, and I hope I was
able to kind of be able toprovide examples of how they're
(25:49):
truly heroes.
But yeah, they really are.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, it's interesting because when it
comes to innovation in theschool system, I can almost
guarantee that no one thinksabout the lunch program.
When it comes to innovation,they probably think about the
math program or the scienceprogram, but the lunch program
is probably one of the morefoundational one, the one that
needs the type of innovationthat you're talking about, juwan
(26:14):
, and it's not an easy taskBringing in those locally
produced meats and produce intothe school system, into the
lunch menu Monumental, not inhidden ways like in sauces and
(26:48):
in condiments and like we'relooking at grains, especially
breakfast grains there can be alot of sugar that's hidden in
those and to be able to reallyshare with the district that by
looking at their sugar andtrying to remove added sugar
from their menus, that theyremoved 10 to 15 pounds of added
sugar per student per year.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
We just had one district who certified Morgan
Hill, unified in California.
They removed 34 pounds of addedsugar per student per year 34
pounds.
We were also able to share withthe school district Pajaro
Valley, unified in California,as well, that within one year
(27:28):
that they were able to doublethe amount of local produce that
they were procuring from theirfarmers.
They're a bigger school, sothey went from about 22,000
pounds in one month to 44,000pounds in one and a half years,
all of that being local.
I have so many more of theseexamples, chris, and that could
(27:48):
be a whole other podcast episode, but it truly is.
There can be innovation inschool meals and in school food,
but those innovations arealready happening, like the food
service directors and theirteams are already coming up with
those innovative, creativesolutions.
But it's like how can we tellthat story and how can we share
(28:08):
that and shout that from therooftops.
That's really the story thatneeds to be shared.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Jiwon Jun, you are the K-12 director of the program
at Eat Real.
The website is eatrealorg.
I agree with you.
I think we've barely scratchedthe surface on this topic and I
would love to revisit it withyou in the near future on
another episode.
Are you willing?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
We should also have these foodservice directors, especially
the ones in Tennessee andArkansas, come join so we can
hear directly from them of thework that they're doing and
really hear from the actualschool food heroes themselves.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I 100% agree with you , g1.
After we get off of here, we'regoing to talk and we're going
to make that happen.
Well, thanks for listening toSmall Talk, the Community's
Unlimited podcast.
My name is Chris Baker.
G1 Jun is the guest today.
G1 is from Eat Real.
Their website is eatrealorg.
Please, please, please, go byand check it out If you're at
all interested in healthierfoods on your kids' lunch menu.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
up the school food directors and the heroes
themselves and and really it'sthe local, local community as
(29:27):
well.
So, like the farmers and theranchers, because this is this
is the important work thatthey're doing, and so just
really excited to be able toshare a little little nugget
into the amazing work thatthey're doing- the chicken
nugget right no-transcript.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!