Program overview: A diverse and healthy diet is not just important for adults. Children of all ages benefit from being exposed to more nutritious plant-based foods. This supports proper growth and development and can also help establish lifelong healthy eating habits. A school setting is one of the most direct ways to introduce students to a range of ingredients and plant-based cuisines.
For these reasons, Meatless Monday and Friends of the Earth partnered with The Humane Society’s Forward Food initiative to help school foodservice teams across the nation prepare, promote, and market climate-friendly, plant-based meals to students, faculty, and staff. The three organizations worked together to distribute 25 recipes approved for K-12 and tested in schools.
This initiative emerged from a survey of foodservice directors that examined barriers to serving more plant-based options in cafeterias. The survey found that foodservice directors needed help finding tested and “kid-approved” recipes that met K-12 meal requirements. It also pointed out a need for ready-to-use marketing and social media materials that promoted climate-friendly and plant-based meals.
Objective: Create a collection of kid-friendly, K-12-approved, meat-free recipes and provide ready-to-use, environmentally focused marketing materials to help promote plant-based meals to students, faculty, and staff.
Process: Develop a series of plant-based recipes and marketing materials that appeal to a K-12 audience. Focus on familiar foods and use messaging that references the environmental benefits of plant-based meals. Distribute these resources to Friends of the Earth’s extensive network of foodservice teams nationwide.
Social media graphics, marketing materials, and other resources such as an approved K-12 plant-based product database, environmental facts, and nutritional FAQs were provided to foodservice departments to promote new menu items and educate students, faculty, and staff on the environmental benefits of eating less meat.
