Serving Up Tradition: A Guide for School Food in Culturally Diverse Communities

We live in a country of continually increasing racial and ethnic diversity. The rapidly changing demographics of the United States bring with them a broader array of cultures, languages, religions, food traditions, and experiences than ever before. In Massachusetts, this increased diversity is especially visible in our public schools where, as of 2009, the Immigrant Learning Center identifed that over 19.6% of public school students came from homes headed by immigrant parents.

At the same time, food service programs nationwide continue to work in a landscape where providing healthy, delicious meals is a challenge under strict nutrition guidelines, low reimbursement rates, and constant pressure to increase meal participation.

This report is meant to connect these two concurrent trends: increased school district diversity and increased efforts to improve the health and quality of school meals. Drawing from the food traditions of an increasingly diverse student population creates an opportunity to develop popular menu items that meet federal dietary guidelines and honor the demographic realities of the district, as well as introduce creative ways to build farm to school programming into a meal program.