10/4/10 The BFS Cafeteria is Going Green! Tara Consi and Angel Zimick of the Green Committee sat down with Tom the head chef last Friday and learned a thing or two about some exciting changes in the cafeteria. The cafeteria has taken on a green initiative this year yet is being a little shy about it. So the green committee would like to do the boasting for them! If you look at the link at the bottom of the menu, you will see that it goes to a page that lists of all the new initiatives Tom is doing with our food partner. Since this link isn't prominent, we want to make sure everyone sees it!  A few examples of the changes happening in the cafeteria include partnering with GrowNYC to use local farms for our produce when in season, serving antibiotic and hormone free chicken, using eco friendly washing liquids which aren't dangerous to our water system and ocean life, locally produced hormone free milk (some organic milk too that is used for cooking), and offering filtered water to cut down on bottled water use just to name a few. To see the full list of the cafeteria green initiative, click here.

For those of us with little ones not eating in the cafeteria just yet, the Green Committee wanted to re-post some tips on packing waste free lunches every day. Don't forget to use reusable containers and utensils as much as possible. Tara's favorite new lunch box is called "the laptop lunchbox". It's similar to bento boxes and is made with non toxic plastics. With all portions of lunch being displayed right in front of your child, he/she is more likely to try everything you've packed. Plus it's fun to pack something of different healthy colors in each container. You can check out laptop lunches right here.

The Green Committee is excited to start off the year with great things happening in the cafeteria. If you're interested in joining the Green Committee or would like to be on the Green Committee Google group, please contact Tara Consi, Angel Zimick or Janet Villas. And remember, it's easy being green!