What can you get for a dime? Add it to the federal reimbursement for a school meal, and it buys a lot. Use it to support spending on farm to school, and it generates many more times its value in local economic development. That's the thinking behind Michigan's "10 Cents a Meal" pilot, which directs millions of dimes into locavore salad bars, entrees, and snacks for children in 16 districts. Modeled after trailblazing farm to school policy in Oregon, the program received state funding for the fir...
Oct 17, 2016•35 min•Ep. 72
What's so smart about those USDA-regulated "Smart Snacks" sold in school vending machines? More whole grain, and lowered sugar, fat, and calories—even if they're Cheetos, Doritos, or Pop Tarts. These reformulated items are less unhealthy, sure, but new research from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity proposes that their "copycat" look and packaging is designed to maintain brand loyalty outside of school, where the original versions are heavily marketed to teens. The strategy may be work...
Sep 26, 2016•37 min•Ep. 71
On July 6, 2016, the school nutrition community suffered the tragic loss of one of its own when Philando Castile was shot by police during a routine traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Philando—a.k.a. "Mr. Phil" and "Mr. Rogers with dreadlocks"—was the beloved 32-year-old cafeteria supervisor for the J.J. Hill Montessori School in Saint Paul. In this special episode, produced in collaboration with Saint Paul Public Schools, we hear about Philando from his colleagues and his mother, Valeri...
Sep 19, 2016•27 min•Ep. 70
In a move they say will “spur innovation,” Republicans on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce have voted to issue block grants for school nutrition programs in three pilot states, cutting them loose from federal federal mandates and supervision. #StopTheBlock’s opponents to this measure—to date, more than 1,000 organizations—say these states would be cut loose from a lot more. On today’s episode, Education/Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) describes how block grants, bec...
Jun 27, 2016•47 min•Ep. 69
Community Eligibility (CEP) is the most popular program to be introduced to federal school meals programs in many years. To date, 18,247 high-poverty schools in nearly 3,000 districts have begun using it to slash cumbersome paperwork, eliminate stigma, and include food-insecure children whom the previous certification system had left behind. Under CEP, every child eats for free, regardless of pay status. This might seem wasteful of taxpayer dollars, but that's only until you take close look at h...
May 23, 2016•54 min•Ep. 68
From two new studies, research you can use to pitch your breakfast program to students, parents, and school administrators. First, evidence that a morning meal is critical to maintaining healthy weight in adolescents. In fact, two breakfasts—at home and at school—are not just better than none, but very possibly better than just one. Second, evidence that participation goes up most reliably when the marketing strategy is direct, personal, and on-the-spot—and as simple as “Good morning, Johnny… Ho...
May 16, 2016•34 min•Ep. 67
Food courts at school are an increasingly popular way to win the participation of trend-savvy teenagers. If you’re flirting with the idea for any of your sites, give a close listen to today’s guests. They’re equally prepared to either talk you into or out of the immense investment involved in embracing this style of food service. Because it doesn’t involve just money, but also—and more significantly—a commitment to sea change in the entire school community’s attitude towards lunch. Not ready for...
May 02, 2016•41 min•Ep. 66
We've all heard that too many cooks can spoil the broth, but that's hardly the case on today's episode. The new FRESHMeals collection of recipes for schools is the work of several dozen cooks from 18 "California Ambassador" districts, pledged to mentor and share best practices state-wide. It took more than two years of tightly coordinated trial-and-error to build a database of 140 (so far) dishes that are off-the-shelf school ready—fully vetted for practicability, affordability, customer appeal,...
Apr 25, 2016•37 min•Ep. 65
Ten days ago, POLITICO's Helena Bottemiller Evich reported the latest development in the long and difficult path to CNR 2015 (now CNR 2016, as it is more than six months overdue). "The House Education and the Workforce Committee has finally come up with a child nutrition reauthorization bill," she wrote, "and it looks like it could be everything health advocates feared." Indeed, there appear to be critical, troubling differences between this bill and the one released by the Senate's committee in...
Apr 19, 2016•38 min•Ep. 64
When did school children start gobbling up quinoa with such pleasure? And how is it that they’re also reaching for salads made with unprocessed (hence “intact”) and highly nourishing unpolished rice, wheat berries, barley, buckwheat, and farro? Join Coleen Donnelly of InHarvest and five food service professionals from across the country to learn how to win over staff and students with intact grains. Which grains are gluten free, why are sprouted grains so special, and what makes a quinoa-kale bu...
Feb 22, 2016•39 min•Ep. 63
Today we re-visit a June 2014 episode with the salad bar gurus at Riverside Unified School District, in southern California. With new technical support for salad bars in schools on the way in CNR 2016, now is the time to take a close second look at a pioneering and celebrated program that still works as safely, profitably, and deliciously as it ever did. “Our attention to detail is what makes us different,” says Chef Ryan Douglas. Learn just what that means—and catch up on what RUSD has been up ...
Feb 08, 2016•38 min•Ep. 62
As we await resolution on CNR 2016, one thing is certain: there will be new technical assistance grants for districts seeking to introduce more freshly prepared food in their cafeterias. Today, we update a Summer 2014 episode about an exemplary “train the trainer” program run by the Maryland Department of Education. Launched in 2011, its goal is reach every food service worker in the state by 2020 with a hands-on kitchen curriculum that restores pride in craft to their profession. See Privacy Po...
Jan 25, 2016•42 min•Ep. 61
For the first time in the history of the USDA school meals programs, success in feeding kids (adolescents especially) is regarded as hip. K-12 nutrition providers, from the people who grow the food to those who serve it, are riding the national tide of food service trends that emphasize vivid, authentic flavor. “Cool ideas are going mainstream really quickly,” observes School Meals that Rock’s Dayle Hayes, who joins us today to review recent innovations—Asian street foods, mac-and-cheese bars, s...
Jan 18, 2016•41 min•Ep. 60
Kyushoku, or elementary school lunch, is a cherished tradition that embodies values central to Japanese culture: gratitude, cooperation, courtesy, cleanliness, reverence for nature, and pride of place. Much more than a meal, it’s a critical learning period at the heart of the school day. You’ll find it depicted in loving detail in a wildly popular short film by today’s guest, Atsuko Quirk. Americans might take away many lessons from what they see there, she says. But the Japanese, as they confro...
Dec 14, 2015•49 min•Ep. 59
As the year draws to a close, Dora Rivas joins us to look back and reflect—not just on 2015, but a half century of service as a dietitian and school food service director. Last August, when she left her post as Executive Director of food service for Dallas ISD, Dora was an iconic figure in K-12 nutrition, recognized nationally as an early adopter of well-defined public health goals for schools. But her story is about private goals, too, and their roots in family and a career launched in a South ...
Dec 07, 2015•55 min•Ep. 58
For processors of foods for the K-12 market, new USDA nutrition requirements arrived at the same time as increased public scrutiny of unfamiliar, often unpronounceable additives. Moving towards “clean label” while simultaneously lowering sodium and introducing whole grains is no problem when money is no object. But when constrained by school budgets, how do manufacturers deliver on all fronts? Today’s conversation with representatives from the nation’s largest suppliers in two key categories—tom...
Nov 23, 2015•53 min•Ep. 57
Today we venture into new territory with the help of Chef Lisa Feldman, who is Director of Culinary Services for Sodexo USA. As a major provider of school meals (413 districts, two million meals daily), it’s significant and influential in ways you may never have imagined. The company’s ambitious strategies to introduce ever-fresher, more wholesome, and more appealing food on a mass scale are freely shared throughout the K-12 nutrition industry. “Nothing is proprietary,” says Feldman, who prizes ...
Nov 09, 2015•42 min•Ep. 56
New Jersey is called the “Garden State” out of pride in an agricultural heritage that dates back hundreds of years. But in West New York, NJ, in the heart of the most densely populated area in the nation, the farms to the south were long unknown to low-income children growing up across the river from Manhattan. Today, that’s changed. The school menus and classroom curricula follow a locavore, culture-changing agenda that connects urban students to the land and the enjoyment of a wide variety of ...
Nov 02, 2015•51 min•Ep. 55
High school cooking competitions can be hugely effective in generating excitement around school food, especially during Farm to School season, when students can work with locally grown ingredients. In rural Vernon County, Wisconsin, there are just six high schools, each with an enrollment of less than 400. But their small size doesn’t undermine the excitement as teams and their chef-mentors spend a month preparing to capture top honors in a delicious face-off. The challenge: create a winning, wo...
Oct 26, 2015•42 min•Ep. 54
For tribal communities across the Great Plains and Southwest, buffalo is the centerpiece of of traditional culture, a sacred food critical to the restoration of health and independence. As new herds grow on Native lands, a small group of schools have joined a pilot program that introduces buffalo not just to lunch trays, but also the classroom and students’ very idea of who they are. For the Intertribal Buffalo Council, which sponsors the project, it’s taken years to get this point. But for the ...
Oct 19, 2015•44 min•Ep. 53
The USDA definition of a “food hub” is loose enough to include many iterations of the concept. Whatever the business model, most hubs aspire to increase access to local whole foods across the socioeconomic spectrum. And there’s no better way to accomplish that than through Farm to School. Today we profile a pioneering hub that is making great strides in serving 18 districts in rural northeastern Iowa, helping school buyers quadruple local purchasing—produce, dairy, pork, and beef. See Privacy Po...
Oct 05, 2015•43 min•Ep. 52
Today we welcome the new USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, for another deep dive into conversation about the future of school nutrition programs. While the delay of Child Nutrition Reauthorization can hardly be described as a good thing, it does give us more time to assess where we are and what’s changed in recent months with the emergence of new leaders, data, and research. We ask Dr. Wilson what, if anything, may impact current USDA positions on CNR. See Pr...
Sep 28, 2015•40 min•Ep. 51
Inside School Food asked listeners to call in about their favorite back-to-school innovations, and they did, from all over the country. Today, with the help of co-host Dayle Hayes, we bring you six of these messages about fresh ideas that are making a difference. Our selection is highly diverse. Because when you’re growing and improving your program, there’s a multitude of needs to think about, and multitudes of strategies to consider for meeting them. “Millbrae School District food service staf...
Sep 21, 2015•42 min•Ep. 50
To kick off the school year, we are joined by the School Nutrition Association’s newly elected President, Jean Ronnei, and Vice President Lynn Harvey. They take on these roles—and this conversation—at an exceptionally challenging and sensitive time for SNA and the school nutrition community as a whole. On today’s agenda: Is school nutrition really a “battleground”? What’s the difference between “flexibility” and “rollback”? Just how much controversy in school food would fade into the background ...
Sep 14, 2015•49 min•Ep. 49
Many American children have developed a strong, stubborn preference for sweet and salty processed food before their second birthdays. If they haven’t, it could well be because they became accustomed to healthier flavors much earlier, beginning in breast milk or even in utero. What babies taste in the first weeks and months of life really matters, says Dr. Julie Menella of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. Her research suggests that school meals can only ever be just one of a much larger set of ...
Aug 10, 2015•34 min•Ep. 48
For decades, fish at school mostly meant one thing: breaded fingers and patties–tasty enough with ketchup, but completely detached from their natural origins. That’s beginning to change in regions with access to local fisheries and processors. There’s keen interest in New England districts with strong local procurement programs and cultural affinity for seafood. Learn how a New Bedford processor is creating new opportunities for the sustainably managed Gulf of Maine fishery, with fresh-frozen pr...
Aug 03, 2015•39 min•Ep. 47
These days, we hear a lot about districts in well-to-do communities dropping out of federal meals programs. While the numbers are in fact miniscule, the conversation about them is significant. Dwindling revenue from paying students is a grave issue for many. On today’s episode, join Wesley Delbridge, Food and Nutrition Director for Chandler Unified School District, to hear about radical marketing and design solutions that are generating excitement and trust among middle class students and their ...
Jul 27, 2015•43 min•Ep. 46
Here’s one of the surest signs we have that swift and substantial progress in school food is possible: Beginning this fall, the nation’s largest district will not only be serving on compostable plates, but actually composting them. The introduction of the new tableware is occurring simultaneously with a city-wide ban on most single-use, non-recyclable Styrofoam—a giant first step in Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s ambitious “Zero Waste” campaign. Astonishingly, this story begins just six years ago, with...
Jul 13, 2015•33 min•Ep. 45
With so many elements of Child Nutrition Reauthorization 2015 hotly contested, it’s good to know we can be bullish about Farm to School. After a successful first round of USDA grants under CNR 2010, advocates are hoping to leverage strong bipartisan support to triple funding to $15M. But as the Farm to School movement matures, the conversation is not just about new grants. It’s about institutionalizing the presence of local food in schools, and how else this year’s CNR can help that happen. This...
Jun 29, 2015•38 min•Ep. 44
Is Child Nutrition Reauthorization 2015 moving too fast for you? Join the club. We all feel that way, and it’s still only June. Today’s episode will help. Jacqlyn Schneider, Policy Director for the Senate Agriculture Committee under Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, is here to walk us through the process. She’ll review some of this huge bill’s many moving parts, and tell us what to expect—and how to weigh in—in the weeks and months to come. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard and ...
Jun 22, 2015•44 min•Ep. 43
