Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15)

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on Monday, Sept. 15. This month-long observance celebrates Hispanic and Latino history and culture, as well as the many contributions made to United States history and culture by the Hispanic American communities. This year’s theme is Collective Heritage: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future.

Nearly 50 percent of Salem students identify as Latino, and every day they are part of creating a joyful and successful learning community. This month, we will be celebrating the diversity and the contributions of Salem’s Latino families.

Meals inspired by traditional Hispanic cuisine include: 

  • Monday, September 15: Chicken & Cheese Empanadas 
  • Tuesday, September 16: Beef Tacos
  • Friday, September 19:  Pastelon (High Schools Only)
  • Wednesday, September 24: Breaded Chicken Tortilla Wrap
  • Thursday, September 25: Birria Pulled Chicken Quesadilla
  • Friday, September 26: Yaroa Pollo (High Schools Only)
  • Tuesday, September 30: Roasted Chicken with Sazon de Abuela Seasoning 
  • Tuesday, October 7: Chicken Fajita Quesadilla
  • Thursday, October 9: Empanadas
  • Tuesday, October 14: Pupusa

On Sept. 30, the entree will be seasoned with Salem’s very own Saison de Abuela– a spice blend developed by Bates Elementary Head Cook, Margarita Ramos, to enhance flavor and bring a taste of home to our students.

We invite you to join this celebration of Hispanic culture by submitting family recipes to be taste tested in school! During Hispanic Heritage month we will be prioritizing taste tests of recipes representing Hispanic culture to allow school communities to experience the culinary traditions of Hispanic culture.

Send your recipes to recipes@salemk12.org. This is a great opportunity to showcase your family’s heritage, share a family dish, and bring our school community closer together. Remember to follow these guidelines when submitting your recipe: 

Guidelines for Recipe Submission:

  • Students should talk to their family and be comfortable with sharing the recipe.
  • Recipes should reflect student/family identities and cultural heritage.
  • The recipe can be a main dish or a side dish.
  • Recipes should be as specific as possible with steps and ingredient amounts.
  • Recipe submissions should include 1-2 sentences about its significance to the student or their family.
  • Remember to include student name, grade level, and email on the submission.

This recipe initiative will take place all year, with a monthly taste test each month. The student whose recipe is chosen will have the opportunity to prepare the recipe in their school kitchen with their school’s cafeteria staff. Let’s come together to honor and enjoy the diverse flavors and stories that make our community unique.

View full school menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner

And We’re Back!

Salem’s Food & Nutrition Services staff wishes to welcome all of our students and staff back to school. We are looking forward to a year of sharing nutritious and delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners!

Menus for breakfast, lunch, the fresh fruit and vegetable program and dinner are available for the month of September here.  Our new user-friendly menu platform allows families to easily find meals for their student’s school along with nutritional information for each of the meals served.

We are thrilled to share that 50% of this month’s menu includes locally sourced ingredients. September is harvest time and our menu makes the most of local fresh foods, including food harvested from school gardens. On Tuesday, Sept. 9, the menu includes tomato, basil, and garlic, all harvested directly from SPS.

We have many exciting efforts planned for this year: we are expanding the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program to five days (up from four) so that students will have a daily, healthy snack.  We’re growing our school garden program to include classroom and garden lessons, which will get students in grades PreK-8 out into their garden, and participating in lessons that are aligned to the district’s science curriculum. In October, we will be expanding salad bars to all schools– including elementarys. And finally, we are rolling out composting in all cafeterias. (More to come on this student-led initiative!).

Even as we launch these new initiatives, we will continue with core program elements, including:

    • Student recipes: We are actively soliciting student recipes for this year. Students and staff can submit their own family recipe to recipes@salemk12.org. Each month, the FNS team will select one recipe and will invite the student who submitted the recipe to “taste test” the recipe with their school’s kitchen staff. We invite students and staff to share a a taste of home.

Scratch cooked meals: We will continue to offer meals cooked from scratch this year, including pulled pork, pulled chicken, fajita bowl, chicken wings, chicken broccoli ziti, garlic parmesan roasted potato wedges, chicken fajitas, sloppy joes, buffalo chicken dip, and hot honey chicken.