Cafeteria Taste Test Program

The Cafeteria Taste Test program has a longstanding tradition in the Beacon school system and is a great way to get students to try (and like!) new foods. We are thrilled to have the opportunity this year to work with the Kingston City Schools Food Service Director to implement the program at Robert Graves and John F. Kennedy Elementary Schools! 

Cafeteria taste tests will be held on the 3rd OR 4th Thursday of each month, depending on the school calendar/days off. The first taste test will be held on Thursday, October 25th during lunchtime. Students will be sampling a confetti corn and pepper salad while learning about pepper plants! After tasting a sample, students will vote whether or not they liked the dish using stickers on a poster.

 

To make this happen, we need help from a couple of types of volunteers. Both types of volunteer opportunities for the CTT program offer easy and fun ways to get involved!

 

Preparatory Volunteering:

• Volunteers can help prepare for taste tests by making posters for voting, as well as posters showing a diagram of the Vegetable of the Month plant (it’s okay if you don’t know the plant’s whole anatomy–I can help with that part). If you are interested in volunteering to do this, please feel free to email me at jen@hudsonvalleyseed.org for more information.

Day-of Volunteering:

• Day-of volunteering is a fun way to get active in getting kids excited about trying new foods!
• Volunteers arrive at the school cafeteria at 11:00. Please be sure to arrive on time so you have a chance to settle in before lunch starts!
• Lunch service begins at 11:15 and goes until 1:03 at Robert Graves and 1:35 at John F. Kennedy.
• Lunch staff will be serving the featured dish to students in the lunch line.
• Volunteers will receive color-coded stickers which will be used to vote on whether students liked the dish. Each color sticker represents a grade group so that we can see how the grades are voting generally.
  
• Volunteers will pass out sample cups of the dish (to students who did not get it in line) and voting stickers.
• At the end of lunch service volunteers tally up the results, counting the likes and dislikes for each grade group (sticker color). Results should be written on the poster and given to the program point person.

Addresses:

• Robert Graves Elementary School: 345 Mountain View Ave, Port Ewen, NY 12466
• John F Kennedy Elementary School: 107 Gross St, Kingston, NY 12401