Tag Archives: School Lunch Reform

May 25Improving School Lunches with Sprouted Wheat Bre...

Improving School Lunches with Sprouted Wheat Bread

Unless you live in a cave, you know that school food has a bad reputation. I am excited to report that in our district, at least, it's getting better. Our food service director surprised me with an invitation to visit Alvarado Street Bakery in Petaluma, where she plans to source the bread for our school district next year. My food service advisory committee colleague, Susannah, and I went to learn more about their sprouted wheat breads and got to see the inside workings of the bakery. Unfortunately,...

Mar 18School Lunches: Scratch Cooking IS Possible

I have been working with a tireless group of passionate parents to reform our local school food. Although we are making HUGE progress, we keep hearing about reasons why things aren't even better. We don't have enough money. We don't have enough equipment. Our staff needs more training. Okay. Let's deal with it. Let's see if we can make do with what we have. Chef Bruno visited our central kitchen recently, to show us how to cook Barilla Plus pasta with the resources we already have. Take...

Jan 31School Salad Bars - Smoke Screens or The Real De...

School Salad Bars – Smoke Screens or The Real Deal?

A dad emailed me recently to tell me that his daughter has been asking if she can participate in the lunch program so that she can eat salad from our new salad bar. Since the salad bar is included with the cost of the whole lunch, he wanted to know which meals were ones that I would want my own kids to eat. Um. Okay - this is awkward. I am working with the food service department to help implement the salad bar and ultimately bring in more money that can be put right back into better ingredients. But...

Dec 312010 Has Been a Good Year (What’s Next?)

It has been a good year for What's Cooking! I have met amazing people and have accomplished things that I never thought possible. Here are a few highlights of 2010 - a good place to start if you are just getting to know me and my mission: Readers started sharing their amazing stories about their experiences in the kitchen with family in our new series, What's Cooking with YOUR Kids. Here's how you can participate, too. A group of parents in our school district began the tedious...

Dec 15School Lunch Reform – A Guaranteed Way to FAIL...

You may have noticed that I haven’t offered an update on our school lunch reform efforts in awhile. Some of our team have been stewing. Others have been steaming. And one just boiled over. Perhaps I should explain the back story. We have done assemblies in 4 ½ of our schools to teach the students how to use the salad bars safely without contaminating their peers with germs. And there have been more than a few challenges in keeping our new salad bars running smoothly. True,...

Nov 17Project Lunch: School Lunch Challenge

Last Friday night, I had the honor of attending an event at Marin Academy, sponsored by Project Lunch. It was an evening of discussion, inspiration, cooking and delicious food - all to inspire the transformation of school lunch programs to include seasonal, local and organic foods. That's right - the kind that doesn't come processed and in plastic...shipped from across the country. What a concept - but can it be done? Special guests included Ann Cooper, The Renegade Lunch Lady, and Congresswoman...

Oct 11School Lunch Reform – Stick a Spork In My Eye

Okay, it's time for me to tell it like it is. It's not like I was lying to you before. But I realize that I may have suggested that our school lunch reform efforts were all flowers and butterflies. It's time for a reality check. For you. So you don't think that this is easy. I'll be honest - there have been many days when I have wanted to stick a spork in my eye. But I haven't told you about those days because I didn't want to be a complainer. And I didn't want to make anyone look...

Sep 10New Salad Bars for Elementary Schools - Feedback...

I am sorry! I had to take down the video for this post until we get permission from the parents of the children involved and the school district. I was too excited and published too early. Coming soon: What we learned from our first day with the salad bar, complete with tips to make it run smoothly for your school. Are there salad bars offered at your school? Do you have any advice, tips or tricks that you can share?

Sep 1The Salad Bars Have Landed - School Lunch Reform...

Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year! Just like last year, you can count on me for updates on San Rafael's efforts towards school lunch reform. We'll also chat about other food issues facing our students, including the largely ignored wellness policy at our schools. As usual, I am all for transparency, and will openly share our challenges and success stories in the hope that we can inspire you to help your community make improvements of your own. Tuck in your napkin and get ready to dive...

Jul 23Project Lunch - When eco-nuts and foodies collab...

Just because I haven’t posted about our efforts at local school lunch reform lately doesn’t mean that we haven’t been busy. In fact, things are hopping! I recently joined Project Lunch, a new project sponsored by an incredible organization called Teens Turning Green. How could I resist joining when the invitation started like this… My name is Carly Wertheim and I am a 2009 Redwood High School graduate. For the last four years I have been involved in the non profit organization Teens...