The Hawaiʻi Department of Education unveiled an expansive new menu for school meals last month, with items like Korean beef bowls and banana bread meant to support local farmers and get kids excited about lunch. The only problem: schools don’t have the ingredients they need for the dishes.
Roughly 50 items have been in short supply during the first month of school, according to an email DOE dietitian Lindsay Nakamura sent to cafeteria managers in August. Cafeteria workers are being told to swap ingredients like taro and ʻulu chunks with potatoes or cut certain ingredients, like cheese, from their recipes entirely.
The shortages, which include popular prepackaged entrees like blueberry pancakes and orange chicken, are most severe for Oʻahu and Maui schools…