On Thursday, October 5th, the school lunch served Cuban Picadillo, a dish much more diverse than what is normally served. The Food Service Department for the district has seen the importance of introducing new foods from different cultures in order to “be more inclusive and more diverse”, said senior Sofia Bartos, president of the Latinos Unidos club.
The district’s food services reached out to the Latinos Unidos club in order to incorporate a recipe from their culture (foods like Cuban Picadillo) into the school lunch one day during Hispanic Heritage Month, which lasts from September 5th to October 15th.
The Food Director also reached out to the Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Leadership Board (DIB) in order to find ways to “create more diverse foods to represent more cultures within the Campo Community”, said sophomore Patricia Davila Gil.
In addition to Hispanic food, there may be other types of food from other cultures to be expected this year: “We’re collaborating with cultural clubs, and I think they’re working on finding things for Japanese food,” said Davila Gil. Leadership is looking to get more personal recipes from families within cultural clubs to “create more homey food,” said Davila Gil.
As staff and students have been looking for ways to make things at school more diverse and inclusive, people are seeing how much more of a possibility cuisine can have to increase diversity. “We encourage them to continue branching out and maybe have a full week next year,” said Bartos.
“Representation is important on all levels, though we are only taking small steps this year, we hope to continue building on the recipe ideas we are collaborating with student groups on” said Acalanes Food Director Rebecca Ward. It is important that the Campo community continues to strive for greater inclusivity of the diverse cultures among our student population.
