Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
What’s for (school) lunch?
District’s chef: We are trying to push clean label eating
When school begins Aug. 14 there will be new items — some of them quite trendy — on lunch menus in Broward County Public Schools.
“What we are trying to push is more, obviously, clean label eating — so something that doesn’t have a lot of fillers in it,” explains Jason Port, the school district’s chef.
“We’re also trying to push more home-cooked meals, so we have meatloaf [with] mashed potatoes and gravy. Kids seem to enjoy that, a little comfort food.” For example, there will be: Sunbutter and Grape Jelly Sandwich (A vegan dish with the Sunbutter made out of sunflower seeds)
Macaroni and Cheese in a Corn Bread Bowl
Vegan Bean and Green Chili Burrito (made with black beans and green chilis for a little spice)
Vegan Chik’n Nugget Salad (the faux chicken is made of a soy blend and made to look and taste like chicken)
No Nut Butter with Smart Cookies (No Nut Butter is made to resemble Nutella and is made from peas and served with a low-sugar, cracker-like cookie) Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce Meatloaf with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes
Southwest Chicken in a Corn Bread Bowl
Lemongrass chicken Broward County Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services previewed the new items at a “Show, Tell and Taste — What’s on the Menu?” event Wednesday at Western High School in Davie. The dishes were tried out by school cafeteria managers from throughout the county as well as the media.
“What we are trying to push is more, obviously, clean label eating — so something that doesn’t have a lot of fillers in it,” explains Jason Port, the district’s chef. “We’re also trying to push more home-cooked meals, so we have meatloaf [with] mashed potatoes and gravy. Kids seem to enjoy that, a little comfort food.”
This year there will be more vegan and vegetarian selections as well, according to Zoe Crego, assistant program manager.
“We think that having a variety of choices is important for our students,” Crego adds. “Having meatless options can be part of a healthy diet, so we want to make sure to provide a nice variety.” as well as our No Nut Butter with Yogurt Cookies, that’s very similar to a chocolate-y spread you see out in grocery stores, but [the spread for dipping is] made with yellow peas, so it’s little bit healthier.”
Crego says they tested the dishes with 200 students from Watkins Elementary School and Nova Middle School at an annual Student Food Show. “So they can rate them anywhere from gross all the way to awesome,” she said. “And these new items are the ones that rated awesome.”
Port adds that its a balancing act getting the nutrition value into dishes to get an “awesome” rating. For example, with some of the vegan and vegetarian choices, he adds beans to get the protein that is needed without using nuts out of concern for allergies. He adds that sometimes even what’s trendy makes it into the mix.
“Chipotle bowl styles, we do have a taco salad and stuff like that,” Port says. “A lot of people like a bowl concept … so you kind of try to push that trend because a lot of kids enjoy something that is all complete in one.”