KAHULUI AND WAHIAWĀ — Hawaiʻi public school cafeterias statewide had the opportunity to celebrate the Lunar New Year with a festive “good fortune” lunch honoring East and Southeast Asian cultures. The symbolic meal featured:
- Orange chicken for prosperity,
- Stir-fry noodles for longevity,
- Dumplings (potstickers) for wealth and family unity,
- Round fruit — including oranges, apples, grapes and melons — for good fortune, and
- A fortune cookie.
The round fruit option created an opportunity for many schools to serve locally grown Maui mandarins from Mahi Pono.
As part of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education’s continued commitment to farm-to-school initiatives and student wellness, the mandarins have been available to school distributors since January, following Mahi Pono’s first commercial harvest of the Hawaiʻi-grown crop. Mahi Pono’s mandarins will be available to schools statewide throughout the spring harvest season.
As of the beginning of February, approximately 67,000 pounds of local mandarins from Mahi Pono have been ordered by schools across the state.
At Maui High School, students regularly enjoy the locally grown fruits. Picked and packed just minutes from campus, the freshness and quality of the mandarins were immediately noticeable.
“It was cold, it was refreshing, it was plump, it was everything that I could describe in fruit,” Maui High junior Joe Liukajime said. “I could keep eating it all day, it was amazing.”
The enthusiasm spread throughout the cafeteria, even encouraging students who don’t typically choose fruit to give it a try.
“The school lunch’s mandarins, they’re really good,” Maui High sophomore Jomel Ramirez said.”“They’re really juicy and they have a lot of flavor.”
“The mandarins are really plump and sweet and juicy,” Maui High sophomore Noa Linsby said. “It was nice to peel it back and eat it — I haven’t had one in a while.”
“I never wanted to try mandarins at first, but when I tried it today, it was actually really good,” Maui High sophomore Izaiah Kaleikini added.
The quality and freshness of the fruit were evident on Oʻahu as well, where students at Helemano Elementary School in Wahiawā enjoyed the Maui-grown mandarins during their Lunar New Year “good fortune” meal — underscoring the Department’s commitment to delivering fresh, locally grown produce to students statewide.
The initiative is part of HIDOE’s farm-to-school program, which supports food sustainability in Hawaiʻi and aligns with Act 175’s goals to improve student health while strengthening the local agricultural economy.
“Citrus varieties are among Hawaiʻi’s top 10 most imported crops,” Mahi Pono Community Relations Director Tiare Lawrence said. “It just made sense to displace a lot of those imports, grow it here locally… and so our mandarins, our oranges, and our tangerines are really going to make a dent in the imported produce coming in.”
“These keiki are getting fresh, local fruit made by Hawai’i, for Hawai’i,” she added. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
Hawaiʻi public schools are among the state’s largest institutional food consumers, serving more than 100,000 student meals each day. The Department continues to collaborate with local vendors statewide to expand the regular use of fresh, locally grown produce in school cafeterias.
