October is National Farm to School Month, and we're celebrating Farm to School Month Ohio by highlighting the people, products, and partnerships that connect our school cafeterias to farms and food producers right here in our own communities. Farm to School can sometimes sound like a big initiative. A new program. A new procurement strategy. Another thing for an already-busy school nutrition team to manage. But what if it starts much simpler than that? What if it starts with

When you think of school lunch classics, potatoes are probably somewhere near the top of the list. French fries. Mashed potatoes. Potato wedges. Loaded potato bowls. They’re familiar, versatile, and, most importantly, students actually want to eat them. On a recent episode of NutriSnart SNAX, Maureen Pisanick sat down with Jim Copp of McCain Foods to talk about why the humble potato may deserve a little more attention when school nutrition professionals are building menus. An

For the past few years, swicy has been everywhere. Sweet heat. Hot honey. Mango habanero. Spicy maple. Chili crisp. The combination of sweet and spicy worked its way from restaurant menus and social media feeds into foodservice - and eventually into conversations about school menus. But food trends move fast. The next flavor trend worth watching? Swavory. That’s sweet + savory, and while the name may be new, the flavor combination definitely isn’t. Think maple and bacon. Hone

Every new school year starts with energy. Teams come back refreshed. New goals are introduced. Professional development days are filled with ideas. Leaders talk about what they want to accomplish, and everyone hopes this will be the year those big ideas really take hold. But then the school year happens. Schedules get busy. Staffing challenges emerge. The daily demands of serving students take over. And that energy from August or September can quickly fade. So how do school l

Last week we went to see RÜFÜS DU SOL in Cleveland. The music was incredible. The production was incredible. But I found myself watching the drummer. He was having an absolute blast. For the entirety of the concert, he was there on the side of the stage carrying the beat, playing with energy, putting on a show, and providing the rhythm that everything else was built around. And somewhere in the middle of the concert, I had a very school-nutrition thought: The cafeteria is the

A new school year brings plenty of excitement - but it can also bring uncertainty. New employees join the team. Longtime staff members retire. Responsibilities shift. Regulations change. Departments may be understaffed. And everyone arrives in August knowing they need enough energy to make it all the way through June. For school nutrition professionals and other education teams, technical knowledge is only part of what makes a successful year. The people doing the work need t

School nutrition is constantly evolving. New nutrition standards, changing student preferences, tighter budgets, and the ongoing challenge of increasing participation all require school nutrition professionals to think differently about what goes on the tray. But sometimes innovation doesn't mean adding something complicated. Sometimes it's about taking ingredients already available in the cafeteria and looking at them differently. In a recent episode of Nutrismart SNAX, Maur

As school nutrition professionals, we spend every day nourishing others. But how often do we stop to think about nourishing ourselves? In this episode of NutriSmart SNAX, Maureen Pisanick sits down with functional medicine physician Dr. Marcus Cirelli of Balance Holistic Health Center to explore how investing in personal health ultimately improves the way we serve students. Their conversation moves beyond menus and meal patterns to discuss the growing importance of whole food

Food safety may not be the flashiest topic in school nutrition, but it is one of the most important. Every meal served in a school cafeteria represents a promise to families that their children are receiving food that is not only nutritious and delicious, but also safe. In a recent episode of the NutriSmart Snax podcast, host Maureen Pisanick sat down with Jason Miller of Innovative Solutions Group/SFSPac to discuss practical food safety strategies that help school nutrition