Hawaiʻi public schools serve green eggs and ham fried rice featuring local green onions 

Participating Hawaiʻi public schools, including Moanalua Elementary, served green eggs and ham fried rice for breakfast this month, featuring local green onions. This special breakfast item is being featured in light of National Read Across America Week and National School Breakfast Week, both which took place in the first week of March. 

The effort is part of the Department’s farm-to-school initiative which aims to enhance food sustainability in Hawai‘i and aligns with Act 175, which focuses on improving the health of students while supporting local farmers.

Throughout the month of March, Hawaiʻi public school cafeterias statewide — like Moanalua Elementary — were offered the opportunity to serve green eggs and ham fried rice for breakfast featuring locally grown green onions. 

The variety of local green onions used were bunching onions — known to have a juicier stalk and stronger onion flavor as opposed to chives which tend to be milder in flavor. An estimated 145 pounds of local green onions will be distributed statewide to serve the 78 participating schools.

The theme of this month’s breakfast feature comes in light of National Read Across America Week and National School Breakfast Week, both of which took place in the first week of March. 

Inspired by Dr. Seuss’ book Green Eggs and Ham, this popular breakfast dish gets its emerald hue from local green onions along with spinach.

Each day, HIDOE serves approximately 26,000 breakfasts – or 4.6 million per school year – to ensure students start their day with the nutrition they need to focus, learn and thrive.

Hawaiʻi public schools are the state’s largest institutional consumer of food products, serving over 100,000 student meals a day. 

The Department continues to work closely with local vendors statewide to see how fresh local produce can be scaled across all schools in the future on a regular basis.