Michigan-grown root vegetables were served on lunch lines in all 6 Dexter schools in November! The featured foods included carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips, and red potatoes from Victory Farms and Cedar Valley Packing. Many students had never had beets, turnips, or parsnips before. And there’s still a way to go in getting students to choose veggies like these over some other, less healthy options also offered. Even so, most feedback from students who tried the veggies was very positive!
Here are a few notable things students had to say about the root veggies:
“They add nice fall colors to the plate.” – 5th grader
“The carrots have great flavor! More flavor than the carrots we have in a bag usually.” – 4th grader
“What’s this?” (a parsnip) “It’s great! Can we have seconds?” – 3rd grader
“What’s this red thing? (a beet) “It’s good! It looks like it gave the other vegetables a sunburn!” – 3rd grader
“I grow carrots at home! They’re delicious!” – 3rd grader
“I grow vegetables at home! (said with pride) (to her friends…) Do you grow vegetables?” – 3rd grader
“Did you know that carrots used to be purple before a genetic mutation turned them orange?” – 4th grader
These girls wanted seconds of the roasted veggies!
Local root vegetables at Wylie
Turnip the Beet!
