During the 2025–2026 school year, Windham Southeast School District partnered with Food Connects to launch Harvest of the Month taste tests in our Brattleboro schools, supported by a Vision Grant. The goal of the project was to introduce students to Vermont-grown foods in a fun, low-pressure way while building excitement around local agriculture.
Each month featured a different local product, with students sampling the food and sharing their opinions. Food Connects connected our schools with local producers and provided resources to make the program successful.
One exciting outcome has been seeing taste tests spark ideas for our everyday menus. May’s taste test featured local eggs. Staff prepared a cheese frittata using the combi-ovens, baking the eggs on sheet pans and cutting it into samples. That preparation method led the team at Brattleboro Union High School/Brattleboro Area Middle School to realize it could be adapted for breakfast sandwiches, swapping frozen egg patties for fresh egg squares made with local eggs. What began as a taste test became a permanent menu improvement.
This innovation shows how Harvest of the Month can do more than introduce students to new foods. It encourages creativity in our kitchens, provides opportunities to test new recipes and techniques, and turns food education into lasting menu improvements for students.
Looking Ahead: Harvest of the Month 2026–2027
For the 2026-2027 school year, we hope to give students a more active role in the taste tests. Our goal is to build stronger connections between the cafeteria and classroom by finding ways for students and teachers to be more involved.
We'll begin in September with pepper varieties, followed by apples in October, and will partner with teachers on class projects connected to the featured foods and the data we collect.
Possibilities include: science classes exploring the biology of taste, classes helping to design and collect feedback surveys, and math classes using real taste-test data to calculate percentages, build graphs, and compare preferences across grades and schools.
This gives students an active role in the Harvest of the Month taste tests and give us valuable data to guide future taste tests and menu decisions.
Article by Susan Grabowski, School Nutrition Program Coordinator for the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union
Adelaide Petrov-Yoo & Susan Grabowski
Interested in getting your class involved? Reach out to adelaide@fooconnects.org. We'd love to partner with teachers to prepare ingredients, design questions, collect feedback, or analyze taste test data.