Thousands of students had full bellies this week, with the official launch of the provincial lunch program.

The long-awaited initiative is coming in phases and will make its way through all of Nova Scotia by the end of the month.

Debbie Madore has been with the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education for over 20 years and created breakfast programs.

She is the School Food Program lead, and tells our newsroom, she started the morning with knots in her stomach, unsure how the first day would play out.

“I was nervous and anxious, and all those things mixed together, but we had great success…minor wrinkles…but nothing that was out of the ordinary.”

Kids “love” the food

According to the province, many of the recipes were tried and tested so they already knew students enjoyed them.

Taco Tuesday kicked things off.

Tacos lined up at St. Anne’s Elementary in Glace Bay
Photo: Communications Nova Scotia

Madore says, the students loved the food and 2,401 children were fed.

“They were picking up the vegetables and dipping them in the taco and trying to jam the lettuce in the pita. It was nice. And some of them kind of needed a bit of an instruction, but that’s food literacy and that’s what this is all about. So, they’re learning what to do with your vegetables and how it adds to a meal.”

She adds, some parents asked if they could get the meal without the vegetables, but she encouraged them to keep them on the plate.

“They may actually try them. And when children are sitting with their classmates and their friends and everyone else is doing it, they’re likely to pick it up and do it as well.”

Province says program “roaring success”

The Minister of Education, Becky Druhan, says she is really excited to see the program come to fruition.

She joined in on the fun with a trip to St. Anne’s Elementary in Glace Bay alongside MLA Johnny White.

Minister of Education Becky Druhan at St. Anne’s Elementary
Photo: Communications Nova Scotia

Druhan tells us, considering all the “thumbs up” and “empty plates”, the more than 130 students there seemed to really enjoy the program.

“There were a whole lot of kids who dove in with enthusiasm. Clearly tacos were already favorites of theirs. There were a lot of smiling faces and a lot of full bellies at the end of that.”

Druhan says there are 40 meals every day, with two options, one being vegetarian, to be as inclusive as possible.

Wednesday was sweet and sour meatballs.

Little wrinkles to iron out

With any program, Druhan says, there will likely be things that need to be worked out, but overall things went “absolutely beautifully”.

Madore echoes this sentiment and says any hiccups were logistics that need to be sorted out.

“One school would benefit from an extra freezer, so that’s fine. And another school…had the wrong time…they were early…which was fine. You know what I mean? Very simple things that weren’t a big deal.”

Madore adds, they had a 40 per cent participation rate in 18 schools, which she says is very good and may get a little higher once people get used to when to order.

Second phase

Ordering for the second wave of phase one starts Friday.

That includes schools that have elementary grades in the Cape Breton Strait Region, Tri County, the Annapolis Valley and CSAP.

Other schools in Nova Scotia including HRCE, will see the program launch, later this month.