Rainbow Schools participate in Eat Local Day

Rainbow Schools will participate in the second annual Eat Local Day on Thursday, November 26, 2015 as Rainbow District School Board continues to focus on education for sustainable development. Secondary school cafeterias, which are operated by Chartwells, will feature a special menu of red pepper and goat cheese rotini, sweet and zesty red taters, caesar salad with kale, and apples with caramel dip all from locally sourced ingredients. 

Eat Local Sudbury is a co-operative grocery store and distributor of local foods primarily grown on farms within a 150 mile radius of Sudbury, and from within Ontario. The company is dedicated to increasing awareness around local food through various means of education. 

“Many of our daily dishes include products purchased through Eat Local Sudbury,” says Mary Webb, District Manager for Chartwells. “This Thursday we will feature a special red pepper and goat cheese pasta dish, inspired by Celebrity Chef Corbin, which was created in an effort to foster healthy, delicious food choices among students, connecting them with the food they eat.”

She adds: “Most schools have environmental and sustainability classes and clubs.  It is important for students to eat local as much as possible. This is something Chartwells supports and truly believes in.”

“Food miles are a common term for a measure of how far food travels before it reaches our plate and any reductions in those distances reduces our carbon footprint or the amount of fossil fuel consumed to sustain our lifestyle,” says Vice-Principal David Wiwchar, a member of the Rainbow District School Board’s Environmental Education Committee.

“We ask all schools to share announcements, invite students to consider the Eat Local Day menu in secondary school cafeterias, and encourage students to pack local food in their lunches, whether berry jam from summer picking, items from the garden or fishing trips, or something local from the grocery store.” He adds: “Everything we eat that is close to home has taken less fuel to ship and supports our community farmers and gardeners.”

Eat Local Day is part of a series of monthly environmental education initiatives in Rainbow Schools.

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Media Contact:

Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor, 

Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning, 

Rainbow District School Board, 705-674-3171, ext. 7217.