MUSD Healthy Recipe Book and Cooking Workshops
MUSD Healthy Recipe Book and Cooking Workshops
Project Budget: $40,000
Montebello Unified School District
www.montebello.k12.ca.us
The Montebello Unified School District’s (MUSD) School Grown Movement (SGM) has an established school garden at each school site. The schools in the south of our District: Bell Gardens Elementary, Garfield Elementary, Suva Elementary, Suva Intermediate, and Bell Gardens High School are comprised of an ethnic demographic of 99% Latino/Hispanic.
An MUSD SGM goal is to provide students the opportunity to learn about gardening and harvesting, and promote healthy food choice by taste testing. This school year each school will have planted six different vegetables and 3 herbs. Each site has 30 – 60 students active student gardeners. The prevalent risk of diabetes and other health related risk factors for our communities is what prompted MUSD’s implementation of the SGM.
The SGM will produce a healthy cooking recipe book that will include low-sodium, non-fat/low-fat recipes incorporating vegetables and herbs grown from each garden. Cooking workshops, lead by two experienced “seed to table” garden educators will guide students in cooking activities and recipe development. Students and their families will also be invited to contribute recipes. Each school library will have multiple copies so students, their families, and school staff check out. In addition, the recipe book will be available online at http://www.montebello.k12.ca.us.
I support Project MUSD Healthy Recipe Book and Cooking Workshops. I truly believe that these projects have a positive impact in schools. This project will help not only students but also their families by providing the necessary resources to making healthier choices.