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Made with love, grown close to home: BPS celebrates Taste Washington Day

A man in a chef's coat and blue cap prepares raw chicken on a metal tray in a professional kitchen.

Central Kitchen cook Paul Cottnair seasons and lays out the chicken drumsticks for roasting

A smiling woman in a blue shirt and apron holds a tray of roasted chicken in a professional stainless steel kitchen.

Central Kitchen lead Kristie Edwards coordinated the numerous steps needed to prep, roast and freeze the drumsticks to be served up in cafeterias on Oct. 7

A man in a blue cap and apron prepares raw chicken on metal trays in a commercial kitchen.

Central Kitchen cook Paul Cottnair seasons and lays out the chicken drumsticks for roasting 36 to a tray

A man in a maroon shirt and black apron slides a rack of shrimp into a large industrial oven within a commercial kitchen.

Central Kitchen cook Sean Ingram pushes multiple trays of chicken drumsticks into the oven for roasting

A man wearing a face shield and blue gloves operates a commercial oven filled with trays of food.

Central Kitchen cook Sean Ingram places internal thermometer into a drumstick as the chicken goes in oven for roasting

Two women review a clipboard and documents in a commercial kitchen with ovens and stainless steel equipment in the background.

Culinary coordinator Ariana Barse (right) and Central Kitchen lead Kristie Edwards go over drumstick counts for each school cafeteria. Elementary students are served one drumstick and middle and high school students are served two per meal

Three smiling women stand in the foreground against a background featuring a mountain mural and informational signs.

Director of food services Lindsay Ahrens, culinary coordinator Ariana Barse, and food services field supervisor Angel Nelson in front of the Good Food Promise wall in the Central Kitchen

Three red and white informational panels are mounted on a wall in the foreground, set against a background mural of a snow-capped mountain and green hills under the text %22the Bellingham good food Promise.%22

The Good Food Promise is alive and well in our school cafeterias

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Made with love, grown close to home: BPS celebrates Taste Washington Day

“If only people could smell how good it smells in here!” said culinary coordinator Ariana Barse as we walked through the BPS Central Kitchen the morning the chicken drumsticks were roasting in the oven.

On this particular morning, 4700 drumsticks from Draper Valley Farms were being prepared with seasoning, roasted and blast frozen in time for Taste Washington Day on Wednesday, Oct. 7 in school cafeterias.

Barse encourages all students and staff to take a lunch next Wednesday, saying this new recipe was “developed with a lot of love, care and attention, seasoned and flavored for students to love and enjoy.”

“It’s just a special meal,” she shared.

Taste Washington Day is an annual statewide celebration of our fresh, local and Washington-grown ingredients. It is organized by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Farm to School Program, Washington School Nutrition Association (WSNA), and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

The day also allows for us to celebrate our Good Food Promise and all the great menu items that come out of our Central Kitchen. 

Aside from these local northwest chicken drumsticks, there will also be sliced Washington apples served on the school salad bars. These are added in time for the annual Washington Apple Crunch that takes place on the same day at 12 noon.  Everyone should take a bite of an apple at noon! Apples are Washington state’s biggest crop harvests; Washington produces nearly 2/3 of all apples in the United States.

Learn more about Taste Washington Day and Washington Apple Crunch online at WSDA Taste Washington Day.

#TasteWADay  #WAapplecrunch

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