School Lunch Program

A natural and healthy school lunch initiative at Daystar Academy aims to bring unadulterated and clean food to the children prepared fresh daily in a clean kitchen environment where no chemicals are used both in cleaning and cooking. Our goal is to give our students an understanding of the concepts of what eating local, fresh, and organic farm products means and why we want to eat as seasonally as possible. This initiative is more than just using organic ingredients, it is about eating as nature intended and showing our respect to our local farmers and to our environment.

At Daystar Academy students come from many parts of the world therefore our program provide not only Chinese meals but also some popular non-Chinese meals prepared in a healthy way with ingredients sourced primarily locally. Though fruits are not offered every day, seasonal fruits are served occasionally.

The principle of sourcing is based on purchasing as much as possible from local farmers and producers when quality is guaranteed. When left no choice, we also buy imported products. All imported products are not dominant ingredients of any meal.

Organic versus non-organic
We have an excellent relationship with all the farmers who we currently  source from for our program.  We visit their farms and understand the practices they use.  They may be certified organic  or using bio-dynamic practices however, some of our sources are very small farms who have chosen to use these practices and not obtain the government qualifications.  We call them natural farms and we accept them in our program.

At the moment, we choose not to buy organic white rice since nutritionally white rice is not good for our health no matter organic or non-organic.The processing of white rice removes all the goodies and any residues will too be removed from the bran and germ. In the near future, we may source organic white rice for the sake of the environment because organic farming by definition is environmentally friendly agriculture. We serve white rice only once per week and it is never prepared alone but always mixed with nutritious millet.

Transparency in our Food
Our kitchen staff prepare everything from scratch including but not limited to bread, pasta, baozi, dishes or treats, in order to avoid any additives that are not desired in the meals. Every day the children are eating food filled with nutrients and authentic tastes. We use bottled drinking water used in the school to soak and prepare all food served in our meals.

The oil, sauces and spices used in the kitchen include corn germ oil, peanut oil or corn oil, soy sauce, vinegar, rice wine, soybean paste, onions, Chinese leeks, ginger,coriander, garlic, sweet potato starch which are all pure products and no additives added. All ingredients are organic or natural unless otherwise specified.

Students with Allergies
We take into consideration that some kids are allergic to eggs, dairy products, and nuts, so every meal there are food prepared without such ingredients. The head chef is aware of who is allergic and makes sure these students get the right food every day if they want to eat school lunch.