Although there is a daily recommended amount of vegetables being 2.5-3 cups a day, only one can be guaranteed to make its way onto a tray at the school lunch. The school lunch does a decent job at making sure one of them is actually on your tray when you exit the line.  

Fruits and vegetables are foods that don’t taste satisfying, but are known as the healthiest out of any sustenance. When I say healthy, I’m talking about their ability to keep all components of the body strong and functioning properly. With a never ending list of vitamins and minerals each one contains, every one of these foods also specializes in carrying more of one specifically aiding a bodily function. For example, spinach is known and proven to be an excellent source of iron for one’s diet. This allows your red blood cells to carry more oxygen that you breathe in all around your body which is what it needs to do in order to keep living.

With Farm to School week passing in October, the city’s ability to educate and provide local produce through events was incredible. Anything from local apples, to sweet potatoes, to grapes, elementary and middle school students were provided with new tastes. This allows the students to be introduced to new fruits and vegetables they may actually end up liking and introduce them to their diets permanently. The key is to act when the students are young, just as the Local Food Hub did during this special week. Watching kids grab the grapes asking if they are blueberries only gets them more interested in fruits and vegetables.

Local food especially has a benefit of consuming in the area it was grown for various reasons. First of all, the money stays local so revenue is put back into the pockets of local farmers directly which allows them to continue their process. Secondly, when food is bought locally, it generally has more nutrition than some that has been sitting on the shelf for a week, while keeping freshness in mind. Thirdly, it makes Harrisonburg more independent as a whole because it can provide for itself without outside aid. Overall, the benefits of local food outweigh the cost of buying food from other areas for our health and the health of future generations to come.