5 Schools Changing the Future of Healthy School Lunches
Amidst the controversy surrounding plate waste, sodium standards and whole-grain requirements, it's easy to overlook what schools are doing to make healthful options the easiest option for students to grab. This year we're seeing lunch plates piled high with all the colors of the nutrition rainbow, partnerships with community farmers and pilot programs that let students sample green-powered smoothies and bean-based entrées. These programs aren't just doing well, they continue to flourish. Want the secret to creating demand for healthful options in K through 12 cafeterias?
Here are five tips that work:
No. 1: Eat Pretty.
Former restaurateur Nancy Weiss revitalized the school lunch program at Santa Barbara Unified School District by sticking to one premise: Food should be delicious and good for you. As an added bonus, Weiss makes sure her cafeteria food is visually appealing to her student customers. She sent her 70-person school lunch team to culinary school to learn about food preparation and presentation. The brightly-hued meals the team makes continue to attract students and teachers, who create an ongoing buzz about the items -- beet smoothies, pickled vegetables and veggie pozole made with Napa cabbage -- they find in the lunch room. The program recently expanded to mobile cafés, food trucks that deliver meals to high school students and after-school supper clubs. It even caught the attention of Pink and Jeff Bridges, who lent support for the program this past summer.
No. 2: Shop Local
In addition to stocking your cafeteria or home with vibrant foods, you can support area farmers and slash costs by keeping it local. The food service team at Odyssey Charter Schools in Palm Bay, Florida, puts this into practice through partnerships with organic farmers and will soon unveil a 20-acre campus farm. The farm-to-tray initiative will support the Healthy Café lunch program, provide students with STEM-focused lesson plans and aims to combat food deserts in the community. The good news is students at this green ribbon school, most of whom qualify for free or reduced lunch, already enjoy harvesting their own plant-based fare.
It might be the most obvious tip, but it works every time: Make it easy to access fresh fruits, vegetables and plant-based entrées. The dietitians at Atlanta Public Schools provide students with fruit wedges, baby carrots, sliced celery stalks and three-bean salads because they're easy to grab and easy to eat. The district's "More Please" campaign ensures students can return to the salad bar for second helpings. Take a move from this food service director's playbook by chopping up fresh fruits, vegetables and store them in easy-to-grab containers at home.
No. 4 Host Taste Tests
Did you hate Brussels sprouts as a kid but now realize you can't get enough of them? Taste buds evolve, adapt and are easy to change. Try a foreign food a few different ways to see which option you like best. If it's a hit, move it into your regular menu rotation. D.C. Central Kitchen uses this approach in their vegetable democracy taste test, a program that lets students vote on vegetables prepared their favorite way. They also use "Fresh Feature Friday" to give students the chance to try new fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. Students' early exposure to garbanzo beans through these programs could explain the high demand for Powered-Up Pasta With Chickpeas, a new entrée making a splash at Walker Jones Education Campus and nine other schools in the district.
No. 5: Create Your Own Yumm! Sauce
Let's face it: Sometimes we get into healthy eating ruts, simply opting for the same fare. One way to add flair to your favorite dish, or to drive student demand for raw veggies and steamed greens, is to top it with bold herbs, spices and chili peppers. Students at the Village School in Eugene, Oregon, keep broccoli a hot commodity in the lunch line by pairing it with vegan Yumm! Sauce, a mixture of garbanzo beans, almonds, nutritional yeast, garlic and zesty spices. Make your own sauce to keep the vegetable crisper as popular as the hidden snack drawer. Focus on ways to bring your favorite flavors to a dish without piling on excess salt and oil. This way you end up with something that is good for you and tastes great, too.
To learn about the 2015 Golden Carrot Awards and to access student-friendly recipes, visit www.HealthySchoolLunches.org.
