“It was shrimpalicious!” said 7th grader Derek.
Sixth grader, Jenna said, “It’s shrimptastic!“
“I love shrimp! I eat it all the time!” said Zahera, 8th grade.
On June 7th, students in 3 middle and 2 high schools in the Tigard-Tualitin district got to try Oregon Pacific pink shrimp purchased from Bornstein Seafood. We brought a team of volunteers from the Oregon Department of Agriculture and from Whole Foods Market in Tigard to serve shrimp samples as part of a Random Act of Kindness. With financial help from FoodCorps, we purchased almost 150 pounds of shrimp from Bornstein Seafood as a pilot program. The idea was to ease into a Boat to School program by showing the kitchen staff how shrimp could be served and gauging student preference. Students had the choice of adding shrimp to their build-your-own-pasta meal, or taking a shrimp sample cup with home made cocktail sauce. 
Our team surveyed the students, asking if they’d like shrimp on the lunch line in the future. As you can tell from the above quotes, the students were generally pretty happy with their special shrimp day. One middle schooler, Ryan, said that the shrimp was “nice and fresh and full of flavor.” Overwhelmingly, the students surveyed said they’d like to see shrimp as a lunch option next year!
Our team surveyed the students, asking if they’d like shrimp on the lunch line in the future. As you can tell from the above quotes, the students were generally pretty happy with their special shrimp day. One middle schooler, Ryan, said that the shrimp was “nice and fresh and full of flavor.” Overwhelmingly, the students surveyed said they’d like to see shrimp as a lunch option next year!
A reporter from the Portland Tribune attended the lunch event. You can see his article here. The one correction I have to make is to clearly state that the event was funded by FoodCorps as support for my Fellowship project and was a pilot for the school district before they apply for grant money to purchase Oregon seafood for the next two school years. It was not an event funded by Oregon House Bill 2800 money. However Diane Wylie, the district’s School Food Director, was pleasantly surprised at how popular the shrimp was and is excited to serve it next year. She plans on applying for the next round of legislation funding for Oregon foods.
The school lunch ladies said “the students weren’t supposed to do that!” When I asked what they meant, they pointed to the students that asked for shrimp in their pasta instead of the beef marinara. The ladies hadn’t imagined their students would like shrimp on the lunch line, let alone select it over long-time favorite, beef. No one had expected we’d run out of shrimp, that’s for sure!
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