New and expanded menu offerings this school year include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Breakfast:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- \u02bbUala swirl bun<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- \u02bb\u0100ina breakfast hash<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Banana pancake with haupia sauce<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Lunch:<\/p>\n\n\n\n- \n
- Loco moco with \u02bbulu gravy<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Chicken papaya soup<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Island chicken wrap<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Honey ginger chicken or tofu<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- \u02bb\u0100ina pizza<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Tofu salad<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Ramen salad<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Local rainbow salad<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Local bok choy as a side<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The Department will also continue offering poi<\/a> as a regular statewide menu item, following its expansion into school meals last school year. Other dishes that were introduced as special monthly offerings, including rainbow salad<\/a> ug chicken papaya soup<\/a>, will also become part of the regular menu rotation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students have helped shape the new offerings by tasting dishes and providing feedback during the menu redevelopment process. Culinary teams used their input to refine recipes, and select dishes were piloted over the summer ahead of their statewide introduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Kalihi Waena Elementary, students were among those who got an early taste of the new \u02bbuala swirl bun, made with local sweet potato.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was very delicious, and I would like to try it again,\u201d said fifth-grader Zyrah Batara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her classmate Troy Paleafei also enjoyed the new breakfast offering. \u201cIt has one of the best buns ever with the white sauce and with the sweet potato,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For fifth-grader Naylast Suda, the \u02bbuala swirl bun was an exciting new item to try. \u201cIt was good and it was my first time trying that,\u201d Suda said. \u201cWhen I tasted it, it was so good because I love trying new things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The expanded menu builds on the Department\u2019s efforts to increase local purchasing and introduce students to foods that reflect Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s culture and agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Current Hawai\u02bbi-grown ingredients featured in school meals include papaya, oranges, pumpkin, pineapple, banana, breadfruit, green onions, bok choy, cucumber, lettuce, sweet potato and taro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working with a variety of vendors, with small farms and big farms, so that we can bring as much local produce and local products to our students as possible,\u201d Tanner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department is also working to regionalize some purchases, including sourcing local beef for school meals from farms on the same island as the schools they serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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