Pride of Dakota School Lunch Day Serves Locally Sourced Foods

The menu featured hotdogs, French fries, and pudding

FARGO, N.D. — “Pride of Dakota” is more than a school lunch; it’s a way for students to take pride in their state.

The hotdogs, buns, French fries, and pudding served were all produced in North Dakota.

While foods from the state are served day to day, “Pride of Dakota” puts on a bunch of items all on one menu.

“It’s important support our local agriculture and local farmers and people who work in that industry to keep that money local so our community can continue to grow and thrive and reinvest in itself,” Cindy Hogenson, director of nutrition services for Fargo Public Schools, said.

The menu’s featured foods came from Fargo, Jamestown, and Mandan. There was also a fresh salad bar.

“Fresh foods that have traveled less distance to get to our plates is going to be fresher, more nutritious, and better to eat,” Hogenson said.

According to the Center for Disease Control, 91 percent of middle and high schools in North Dakota have salad bars. That’s more than twice the national average.

“It’s also important to teach students about those resources that we have in our community and to be exposed to those items and explore and be better consumers of those items,” Hogenson said.

Teaching students about the process can really hit home, especially because North Dakota is an agricultural state.

“I hope students who have family members who are farmers or in that industry can make a connection between what they do every day and how that product gets turned into food and ends up on our plates,” she said.

That realization can lead to a lot more too.

“I hope they’re encouraged, inspired, to perhaps seek out that industry and perhaps a career in the future,” she said.

“Pride of Dakota” was launched in 1985 by the state Department of Agriculture.