Schools

Are We in Midst of a Sleepy Hollow-Tarrytown Food Revolution?

I sent my kindergartner off with lunch money for the first time today in her school life and she was over-the-moon excited. Actually, surprisingly, I was too.

As a pushy pusher of all things non-processed (I don’t even venture into the middle grocery store aisles), I was pleased to read the school menu contained green things like broccoli, whole grain bread, real fruit.

There are many signs all over town that our ideas about food, where they should come from (and how far), and how they are prepared, are really changing from the pervading ways of my day (cans and boxes).

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At the Community Food Pantry serving Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, Rachelle Gebler notes that “we have been working toward not only getting food to people in need, but also making the food we do provide as healthy as possible. We try to purchase low sodium, multi/whole grain, low sugar whenever possible in addition to offering fresh fruits and vegetables.”

At Tarrytown's private Hackley School, they’ve partnered with FarmersWeb to bring locally sourced food to their students.

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Writes account executive Danya Al-Qattan, FarmersWeb is an “e-commerce platform for local farms" which "enables schools, restaurants, and institutions to purchase local farm products online. Over the last year, sales have tripled in size, and today the company has almost 2,000 products available from local farms (depending on the season).”

Hackley has also achieved something of “green” status with another partnership with Flik Independent School Dining, which got them certification by the Green Restaurant Association, meaning their foodservice operation must meet minimum criteria in seven environmental categories.

But does it take paying tuition to have healthy meals for our children?

Last year, the Tarrytown public schools after-school program, guided by parent opinion and bolstered by food donations, was able to switch to healthy snacks.

Francois Rjelli, who owns Cedar's, donated humus and pita once a month. On other days, they upgraded from cookies and chips to granola bars and Pirate Booty snacks. 

“What has been challenging is finding a source for fresh fruit that delivers, but we're working on it,” Sleepy Hollow Trustee Susan MacFarlane said at the time. “We're trying to help these kids form healthy eating habits.  Several parents who didn't like the cookie and chip offerings had been sending snacks from home, and two of those parents are on our Rec Advisory Committee and helped guide this change, Herb Weltig and Carl Aridas.”

Change starts on this level with parents and citizens who care what we eat, and what we feed our kids and even our poor.

We have two farmer’s markets in the villages, a growing roster of farm-to-table restaurants (Tarry Tavern, Sweetgrass, just to name a few), the Stone Barns working farm/restaurant, and even a Mrs. Greens natural grocer on the way. 

Do you think we’re seeing a food revolution here in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow?


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