When a school partners with the Red Rabbit food company, students are met with a vibrant plate of Dominican, Jamaican or Indian food — all made from scratch. The company’s mission: to bring healthy meals from all cultures to the school cafeteria.
“We’re constantly pushing what school food should look like beyond what the standard and what is considered school food,” said Naeema Arrastia, Red Rabbit’s chief business officer. “Today, what Red Rabbit is doing is hiring professionally trained chefs from the communities that we serve, which allows them to create culturally relevant meals that are not only great tasting but authentic.”
The Black-owned food company currently serves more than 45,000 meals to kids daily across 10 cities, with plans to offer diverse school lunch options in Washington, D.C., this fall. The organization also transforms lunchrooms into a celebration of culture, down to the music they play for the students. The idea is to remind children to be proud of their heritage.
“No person can truly begin to learn and experience life, when there is a feeling that they are not in the right place where they’re not supposed to be, or that they don’t have that safety they’re seeking or that sense of belonging,” Arrastia said. “I firmly believe that Red Rabbit, at least for a moment in time, is providing children with an opportunity to feel fully seen and heard with the reflection of themselves on that plate.”
In the video above, learn more about how Red Rabbit is diversifying school lunch. Find out more about the food company here.
