Kiwi Crusaders
A+ Food Programs
By Jennifer Medley
While no school food program is perfect, many come close. At KIWI, we believe success stories can inspire other schools. So we created the KIWI Crusaders Award to recognize the schools and school systems that have made a commitment to serving their students healthier, more sustainable food. KIWI and Fruitabü, our partner in this award, are pleased to announce the winners of the 2007 Kiwi Crusaders Award for Excellence in School Meals. Our congratulations go to: McNeil Child Development Center in Pennsylvania (preschool), Berkeley School District in California (public), and Calhoun School in New York (private). Each winner will receive $3,500.
The number of impressive 2007 Crusaders applicants proves that positive upgrades are possible in any type of working lunch program. As Ann Cooper, a chef and the nutrition director of the Berkeley School District in California, puts it, "You just have to start taking baby steps, make one change at a time."
Among all applicants, creativity played a crucial role in taking that first step, along with getting parents involved. Unity Charter School in New Jersey has a picnic at the beginning of each school year to introduce families to some of its lunch program’s natural foods. Louisa May Alcott School, a partner in Chicago’s Organic School Project, gathers families in the school’s vegetable garden in summer months for plantings, tastings and garden-associated craft projects. Thinking outside the box, Global Montessori Academy in Missouri offers lunches to its preschoolers from a local organic café, and the vegetarian, locally grown fare is served in reusable containers.
Greg Christian, founder and chairman of the Organic School Project in Chicago, recommends that a school’s first step be to plant a garden, so that schoolchildren get involved in the growing process. "Starting with a garden is key. It doesn’t have to be a Cadillac garden–any kind of garden, on any kind of plot, will get kids connected to where their food comes from," he says.
Schools considering change may find further inspiration from a recent University of Minnesota study conducted in 330 of the state’s public-school districts. It was found that students actually eat healthy food when it’s provided, and that higher labor costs are often offset by the lower cost of fresh fruits and vegetables, as compared with processed foods.
How does a school know when it has succeeded in making nutritious fare taste delicious? According to this year’s winning Crusaders, it’s when the staff is excited to eat school lunch, too!
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Private School Crusader
School: The Calhoun School
Location: New York, New York
Number of Students: 725 (K–12)
Food Program Highlights: Calhoun switched from an institutional food service provider to an in-house executive chef, Chef Bobo, in 2002. He and his staff use only natural, seasonal ingredients–local when possible, such as meats sourced from an upstate New York farm–to create a delicious, diverse, portion-controlled menu. The students get an interactive education on food, nutrition, healthy living and sustainability–for example, older age groups learn composting, and herbs are grown on the school’s green roof. In addition to two lunch entrée offerings, one of which is vegetarian, students can also choose a made-from-scratch soup, or one of two salad bars. Fresh fruit is promoted as dessert.
Top Additions: Whole grains, tofu, fresh, seasonal "unusual" produce (fiddlehead ferns, sea beans, kumquats, blood oranges)
Top Eliminations: Foods and drinks with refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, canned fruits, processed foods
Lunch Sampling: Turkey Sloppy Joe on a whole-wheat bun, Moroccan winter squash and carrot stew, quinoa pilaf, salmon with sesame and orange-ginger relish
Student Reactions:
"It’s awesome! The best! Better than anything you can find anywhere.
Everything’s good. I love the black bean soup!" — Everett, age 10
"It’s very gourmet! I like the snow peas; I didn’t think I would like them.
The miso soup is really good!" — Talley, age eight
"I like the food here because there’s always a variety of stuff to eat." — Carlo, age 14
"The lunches are healthy and they taste good. Chef Bobo cooks salmon
really well. And there are good vegetables." — Anne, age 12
Plans for Award Money: Expansion of the school’s urban vegetable garden and purchase of induction stoves, which are portable and will be used for in-classroom cooking demos
We’d like to thank all the schools that applied for the 2007 award. If you’d like to enter your school or school system for the 2008 KIWI Crusaders Award, visit www.myhealthyschool.com.
KIWI’s Panel of Judges
Cricket Azima, food editor of KIWI magazine, kids-cooking expert and mother of one
Janice Newell Bissex, RD, and Liz Weiss, RD, nutrition consultants, cookbook authors, founders of www.mealmakeovermoms.com and each a mother of two
Matt Cohen, cofounder and CEO of Kidfresh, a retailer of kids’ meals, and father of two
Jonathan Deutsch, cookbook author, assistant professor at Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York, and father of two
Keri Glassman, RD, author, founder and president of both KKG Body Fuel (a nutrition-counseling practice) and KeriBar (a nutritional snack-bar company), and mother of two
Sara Gragnolati, editorial director of KIWI magazine
