The Spring 2024 Healthy Meals Summit was a working meeting more than a conference. USDA and Action for Healthy Kids brought school nutrition teams from 140 districts to St. Louis for two days of hands-on workshops and interactive stations. The emphasis was practical: how to do the work, not just talk about it.
What Was on the Agenda
Hands-on scratch cooking
Kitchens set up for live cooking demos and try-it-yourself stations. Attendees rotated through techniques for scratch grain bowls, braises, and sauces, and left with recipe cards they could adapt for their own menus.
Farm-to-school programming
A full workshop track on sourcing from local producers, including sessions on cold storage, USDA Buy American considerations, and how to price local protein within reimbursement limits. Several Missouri-area farms sent producers to meet with districts directly.
Nutrition education experiences
Workshops modeled classroom nutrition education lessons, with live demonstrations and downloadable lesson plans. Emphasis on lessons that pair directly with meals served that week, so classroom learning reinforces cafeteria choices.
Who Attended
Attendance pulled from the HMI grantee cohort, Recognition Awardees, and State Agency representatives. The focus on 140 districts made it possible to have real peer conversations without the overhead of a larger gathering.
Takeaways
- The districts most ready to scale improvements were the ones with consistent documentation habits built into their operations.
- Farm-to-school programming works best when districts start with one or two producer relationships and build from there, rather than trying to source broadly from day one.
- Nutrition education is a force multiplier for menu changes. Students who understand why a change was made are more likely to engage with it.