{"id":18222,"date":"2026-01-27T09:33:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=18222"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:21:29","slug":"2026-hawaii-public-school-students-taste-the-rainbow-with-fresh-locally-sourced-salad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/2026-hawaii-public-school-students-taste-the-rainbow-with-fresh-locally-sourced-salad\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi public school students \u2018taste the rainbow\u2019 with fresh, locally sourced salad"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAPA\u2018AU \u2014\u00a0 Hawai\u02bbi public school cafeterias statewide offered students a fresh, locally grown rainbow salad with lunch this January, highlighting the Department\u2019s continued commitment to farm-to-school efforts and student wellness. The colorful salad featured locally sourced lettuce, cucumbers, watercress and tomatoes, as available, along with carrots and purple cabbage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 5,400 pounds of local produce \u2014 including 3,300 pounds of lettuce, 2,000 pounds of tomatoes and 100 pounds of cucumbers \u2014 were distributed to 100 participating schools across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Kohala High School and Kohala Elementary School on the northern tip of Hawai\u02bbi Island, students enjoyed the vibrant salad alongside a familiar lunch favorite: pepperoni pizza. While the classic entr\u00e9e was a crowd-pleaser, the fresh vegetables also earned positive reviews from students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought that the salad was really good and I think everyone should like it,\u201d said Kohala Elementary School third grader Macklin Loo. \u201cIt’s good for you because it gives you a lot of nutrients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI liked how it had purple cabbage and carrots inside,\u201d added fellow third grader Aliana Perez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kohala High School students echoed similar sentiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought it was really good, especially since it’s fresh and it’s from local vendors, and that’s really important for us to have in school,\u201d said ninth grader Haley Pimentel. \u201cYou can really taste the freshness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another ninth grader, Kazlyn Matsu, agreed. \u201cIt’s really good. It tastes fresh \u2014 not like the type of salads that are pre-made in bags in stores.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative is part of the Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education\u2019s farm-to-school program, which supports food sustainability in Hawai\u02bbi and aligns with Act 175\u2019s<\/a> goals to improve student health while strengthening the local agricultural economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we should be sourcing locally as much as possible because it supports our local farmers and the local economy,\u201d said Kohala High School Food Services Manager Indigo Mathewson. \u201cThe food is fresher and more nutritious, and not everyone has access to meals like this every day. Exposing students to healthy foods early on is important, and I think we\u2019re on the right track.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the monthly special salad, beginning this school year Hawai\u02bbi public schools also have the option to offer fresh salad entr\u00e9es throughout the year as an alternative to the standard lunch entr\u00e9e. Options include Chinese chicken salad, protein snack box, chicken Caesar salad, chef salad and taco salad. These salads are made fresh at each school and feature local produce when available, such as lettuce, won bok, cucumbers, green cabbage, tomatoes and beef.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hawai\u02bbi public schools are among the state\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

KAPA\u2018AU \u2014\u00a0 Hawai\u02bbi public school cafeterias statewide offered students a fresh, locally grown rainbow salad with lunch this January, highlighting the Department\u2019s continued commitment to farm-to-school efforts and student wellness. The colorful salad featured locally sourced lettuce, cucumbers, watercress and tomatoes, as available, along with carrots and purple cabbage. Approximately 5,400 pounds of local produce […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":18221,"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":"856,888,893,1022,1619,1622","_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-18222","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\/20260121-Kohala-Elementary-Rainbow-Salad4-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Sara Miyazono","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/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":"2026-04-10 22:43:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}