Educating future generations
Tsuruoka City has designed various opportunities to expose young children to local cuisine and festive dishes, in the hopes that they will learn to love their culture while growing up strong and healthy.
SCHOOL LUNCHES
School lunches in Tsuruoka are carefully planned by professional nutritionists and dietitians to be both delicious and nutritionally balanced meals. Ingredients are all locally sourced, with special menus served during traditional festivals such as Tango no Sekku (Boys’ Day) and Setsubun.
Before students partake in their meal, one representative reads fun facts about the food they are going to eat.
Visit to the school lunch centre
A typical school lunch today
Children enjoying their meal
FIELD TRIPS
Local farmers who provide ingredients for school lunches also organise farm observation tours for children and parents. These tours teach them more about where their food comes from, and what goes into producing it. Children are also given the opportunity experience farming first-hand, which sparks interest in, and teaches them to be grateful for their food.
During the summer of 2019 and 2020, Tsuruoka Gastronomy Promotion Office organised a workshop for elementary school students to conduct their summer holiday independent research project. FŪDO guides brought the children to various farms and factories to learn more about the local food culture and the unique food products of the region.
INTERACTION WITH LOCAL FARMERS
Children interact with local farmers who produce the ingredients used in school lunches while enjoying their meal