Leah Botko: Our Old Orchard Beach Schools Seafood Hero
Leah hit the ground running when she started working at RSU 23 by immediately embracing and serving local seafood to her Old Orchard students.
Coming in hot with Gulf of Maine fish
It's week three of National Seafood Month and to celebrate, we're going to keep bragging about some truly amazing folks serving local seafood to Maine students. Today's hero? The legendary Leah Botko of Old Orchard Beach! Leah has been the Director of Food and Nutrition Services at RSU 23 for a little over a year, but she has already accomplished more than we could dream of in the realm of lunchroom seafood advocacy. Here's a few of the ways she has worked to get her school nutrition staff AND students excited about cooking and eating Maine fish:
Shortly after coming on board as Food Services Director at OOB, Leah worked with MCFA to sample Graffam Bros flounder fish tots with her students. The response was overwhelmingly positive so she put them on the menu at the high school.
She signed her district up to receive fish via MCFA's Fishermen Feeding Mainers program and ordered local monkfish fillets.
With these fillets, she menued a fabulous spread: monkfish sushi bowls with sushi rice, spicy mayo, nori, and a slew of beautiful vegetables. The students loved them!
This spring, Leah kept the momentum going and helped organize and host a Foundational Fish Skills training event with MCFA and GMRI to give school nutrition staff greater comfort in handling and cooking local seafood species. Read more about this well-attended training here.
In June, Leah spoke at the Culinary Institute of America's "Menus of Change" leadership summit about inspiring K-12 students to both eat and learn about sustainable seafood: "Botko says her district has an 85% acceptance rate for unfamiliar seafood species, and purchases about 80 pounds of monkfish each month." Read more about the ways in which our hero advocates for local food systems, sustainable fisheries, and healthy eating here.
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