Kyushoku Inspired Food Program

We believe that healthy food nourishes the spirit as well as the body. That food is culturally significant and connects us to our ancestors. There is more to food than the process of eating. Food binds us to our past and informs our future.

 The food service program at The Angela Day School is a cultural sustainability program. Our program is focused on the principle of food sovereignty in an effort to promote culturally relevant food cultivation through sustainable processes and to reintroduce and rebuild knowledge of food production and conservation practices with communities who have historically be divested of land and the means of food production. Most of the food prepared on campus will be representative of the ancestral foods of the descendants of enslaved Africans and Indigenous communities.

Modeled after the Kyushoku lunch program in Japan, the food program utilizes local foods for meal preparation and service. A chef and nutritionist plans the meals that are served to students everyday. After food has been prepared in the Lower and Middle School, it is sent up to the classrooms where students eat communally with their teacher. Students in the Lower and Middle school do not help prepare the food, but they do prep the classroom for lunch, serve the food to each other, and clean up afterwards. Nutritional facts about ingredients featured in the day’s meal are incorporated into the curriculum and students learn about where the food has come from and the nutritional benefits of specific ingredients. Classes even take part in picking the vegetables or fruits for the lunch by visiting a local farm that provides ingredients to the school and the whole school community takes part in helping plan meals.

You can learn more about program that inspired our food program here.