Some Minnesota schools are now offering take-home meals for kids fasting during Ramadan

One by one, the pieces came together. Fresh pita bread, a vegetable medley, chicken spiced in a special "Como Street Blend" — all packed into kid-friendly kits, with nods to culture and community, for delivery to St. Paul schools.

This year, St. Paul Public Schools is one of 19 districts and charter schools in Minnesota to win approval to distribute take-home packages of food to students fasting during Ramadan.

The programs are a first for the state's school districts. But the work is familiar to nutrition center employees in St. Paul. During the pandemic, they assembled as many as 6,000 boxes of food daily. Still, there is pressure.

"I am nervous because we're offering something new to the community," said Bono Gbolo, the district's nutrition center manager, who values creativity in dishes. If he had leeway in his budget, for instance, halal meat would top the wish list, he said.

Ramadan is a monthlong holy period during which Muslims fast without food or drink — from dawn to sunset — as an exercise in patience and humility. They also perform charitable acts, pray five times a day and spend more time reading the Qur'an.

The fast is broken each night with meals known as iftars, and for some St. Paul students last Monday, that meant digging into their "Italian dunkers."

The popular cheesy bread was the opening day lunch choice in what's to be a month's worth of breakfast and lunch selections — the chicken gyros with the "Como Street Blend" arrived on Day 2. And whether a kid could get away with dunking that night without sharing with siblings was cause for speculation.

"I'm sure there'll be some dynamics in the homes," said Abdisalam Adam, principal of East African Magnet School in the Frogtown neighborhood. He is fasting, too, and embraces the communal spirit of Ramadan.

"I really applaud the St. Paul district for taking this initiative ... meeting us where we are and seeing that every community and its values are supported and recognized," he said.

The district also has made clear via social media that students of other faiths who choose to fast — Catholics during Lent, for example — can take home meals, too.

East Coast inspiration

St. Paul is accustomed to working with parent leaders on culinary offerings that celebrate the district's diversity. Two years ago, bison nachos went citywide.

A year ago during Ramadan, Stacy Koppen, the district's nutrition services director, said her team learned about meals being sent home with students in New York, and asked the Minnesota Department of Education if the idea could be replicated here.

In December, the state agency agreed and invited districts to submit food plans for approval.

"MDE is committed to ensuring every student of every background has the opportunity to thrive at school," spokeswoman Anna Kurth said.

Koppen said the Ramadan meals had to fall within the district's budget, which averages out to $5.25 per lunch item. On Day 1 last week, plans took a hit when just 150 students picked up the breakfast and lunch kits, after the district prepared 750 of them. The extras were donated to local food shelves.

Other districts also were off to a slowish start.

Sartell-St. Stephen had yet to get any takers. That was also the case in Columbia Heights and Intermediate School District 287 in the west metro, said Danaca Jensen, food and nutrition services director for Willmar Public Schools, citing a group email of program participants. Willmar is preparing five breakfasts and five lunches per day, Jensen said.

St. Cloud was on a weeklong break last week, but 65 secondary school students who were surveyed expressed interest in a take-home Ramadan meals program. The district is planning to prepare a total of 100 such meals daily for end-of-the-day pickup.

Then it's wait and see.

"Our nutritional team is always ready to adjust and support students, staff and buildings as needed," said Joel Heitkamp, executive director of operations for the St. Cloud Area School District.

Testing recipes

In St. Paul, parents and district leaders, including Adam of East African Magnet School, met to brainstorm take-home options, and a survey then was circulated that found sambusas, fresh fruits, and yes, Italian dunkers, among the favorites listed by 343 students who responded.

Gbolo and his team then took over to determine which dishes had the best take-home capability, and discovered, in one example, that the lamb and beef in traditional gyros tended to dry out when reheated. Chicken, thus, became the choice.

A dish unique to the Ramadan meals program — a Mediterranean bowl with falafel, coucous, diced cucumber and hummus, among other ingredients — also was created. As a result, four of the 10 items on the program's lunch menu are vegetarian.

Could it be too many?

"The kids are going to be the judge," Gbolo said.