Friday’s school lunch at Laupahoehoe Public Charter School was one of a kind in the state.
The meal, comprised of beef brisket, bok choy, rainbow carrots, steamed garlic ulu and poi, was the only school lunch in Hawaii to be entirely made of local ingredients, with nothing brought in from out of state.
“It’s important to me that the keiki are getting as much local and organic ingredients as possible,” said cafeteria manager Juliet Higgins, who planned the meal as part of Farm-to-School Month.
Higgins said requirements of the state Department of Education and National School Lunch Program make it particularly difficult for Hawaii schools to be flexible with how they feed students.
“The entire state is just one school district,” said Kenta Nemoto of the Hawaii Ulu Cooperative, which provided the breadfruit for Friday’s meal. “So, we have people on Oahu making decisions about school lunches on the Big Island.”
Because of the DOE’s food standards, school meals need to be sourced in such a way that is scalable for the entire state, Nemoto explained: “The entire system has to order all at once.”
Nemoto noted that mainland school districts, which usually don’t encompass entire states, can be more flexible about how they secure food, since local farms are more likely to be able to produce enough food for the district.
“Since we’re a charter school, we have a bit more flexibility, too,” Higgins said.
The lunch seemed popular among the roughly 200 students on Friday, with some exceptions: The poi, served in squeezable tubes, was contentious, with some students returning empty trays but untouched tubes.
Higgins agreed that poi is an acquired taste, but said that’s why keiki should be introduced to the Hawaiian staple when they’re young. She said the makers of the poi, Waimea group Moku Wai Piko Poi, have told her that poi is becoming less and less popular among young people.
“They told me if the keiki don’t try it, there will be no poi,” Higgins said. “If you don’t get a taste for it when you’re young, you won’t try it as an adult.”
Nemoto said the lunch was a landmark event, and that no school in the state has had a 100% local lunch in decades — if ever.
And it might be a while before it happens again. Higgins said that, while her menu ingredients might be sustainable for the school, the work needed to make the meal from scratch isn’t.
“If I had more people in the kitchen, maybe,” Higgins said, noting that preparing breadfruit takes considerably more effort than opening a can.
But the breadfruit and the poi also are a big part of why the meal could happen at all. Nemoto said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently passed a rule change allowing for facilities in Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico that serve more than a certain percentage of Native Americans are allowed to substitute grains for other vegetables in school lunches.
Therefore, Higgins said, the ulu and poi served as de facto grains in the menu.
Jenny Bach, the school’s farm-to-school coordinator, said the school has taught students about sustainable farming and gardening practices since about 2012. The school often prepares food grown in the school’s gardens — albeit not for Friday’s lunch.
Although the full meal might not be an everyday occurrence, Bach said the school still offers local meat, fruit and vegetables multiple times a week.
Higgins said similar lunches could be possible for other schools, as long as they are willing to try something different. She thanked the Laupahoehoe school’s administration for being wholly supportive of her idea when she proposed it.
“I thought it was a great idea,” said school office manager Tracy Jardine. “We were excited to try it out, and everybody seems to be loving it.”
The full menu and providers of Friday’s lunch:
— Parker Ranch Grass-fed smoked beef brisket (smoked by Waimea butcher shop)
— Waimea Poi (by Moku Wai Piko Poi)
— Steamed garlic ulu (by Hawaii Ulu Cooperative)
— Roasted rainbow carrots and herbs (from Waimea)
— Flat-top grilled Big Island bok choy
— Fresh Big Island papaya
— Cartoned milk (from Hilo Meadow Gold)