{"id":11099,"date":"2025-05-19T09:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T19:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=11099"},"modified":"2025-11-13T08:29:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:29:25","slug":"2025-local-%ca%bbuala-returns-to-school-lunch-menus-across-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/2025-local-%ca%bbuala-returns-to-school-lunch-menus-across-the-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Ua toe fo'i le 'uala ile a'oga ile lisi o le aoauli ile setete"},"content":{"rendered":"

HILO \u2014 Cafeterias statewide were offered the opportunity to serve \u02bbuala (sweet potato) as a lunch side item this May. Approximately 372 pounds of local Okinawan sweet potato were distributed to 91 participating schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u02bbUala is rich in vitamins A, C, and B6, as well as antioxidants and dietary fiber, supporting immune health, vision and digestive health. In ancient Hawai\u2019i, farmers cultivated approximately 200 distinct varieties of \u2018uala. Today, the Okinawan sweet potato has become one of the few varieties that is grown commercially in the islands. The variety has more antioxidants than others due to its high levels of anthocyanin, which also gives the vegetable its vibrant purple color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hilo Union School served the local \u02bbuala alongside their BBQ kalua pork sandwich lunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur administration has been really great and supportive of our cafeteria when our supervisor gives us all these different special events that we can get involved with for the students,\u201d April Weber, Hilo Union school food services manager, said. \u201cWe love introducing it to them and I think that’s a great opportunity for them to see, taste, and even just be part of this.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pop of purple on students\u2019 plates was exciting for those familiar with the vegetable and intriguing for students who were trying it for the first time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like the color of it,\u201d said Hilo Union fourth grader Declan Robinson, who never had \u02bbuala before. \u201cIt’s kind of different \u2026 It looks cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixth grader Isabella-Marie Wells, on the other hand, was thrilled to see it on the lunch menu. \u201cI just love sweet potato. It’s something that I’ve always loved and always will love. Every time my mom has sweet potato at home, that’s the first thing I grab and put on my plate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local \u02bbuala has frequently made its way onto school menus in recent years, either in its steamed form like this month, or in special dishes like Okinawan sweet potato pie, sweet potato mash, and sweet potato yogurt bowls. Next school year, students will see the Okinawan sweet potato mash on their lunch menus and Okinawan sweet potato yogurt bowl on their breakfast menus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O a'oga a le malo o Hawai'i o le setete aupito tele lea o lo'o fa'atauina mea'ai, e silia ma le 100,000 taumafa a tamaiti a'oga i le aso. O lo'o fa'aauau pea ona galulue vavalalata le Matagaluega ma le au fa'atau oloa i totonu o le setete atoa e va'ai pe fa'afefea ona fa'ateleina fua fa'alotoifale i totonu o a'oga uma i le lumana'i i taimi masani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Hilo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Hilo<\/figure>\n<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HILO \u2014 Cafeterias statewide were offered the opportunity to serve \u02bbuala (sweet potato) as a lunch side item this May. Approximately 372 pounds of local Okinawan sweet potato were distributed to 91 participating schools.  \u02bbUala is rich in vitamins A, C, and B6, as well as antioxidants and dietary fiber, supporting immune health, vision and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"15333,16234,8932,14121,10837,16782","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025-Uala-feature-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Sara Miyazono","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/author\/sara-miyazonok12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":305,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":305,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 04:58:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}