Chef Partnerships – TrayTalk.org

Teaming up to Enhance Scratch-Made Menus for WA Students

The Ellensburg School District, located in central Washington, is revamping school meals for its 3,300 students across six schools. Working to transform offerings with more scratch-made recipes, vegetarian options and locally sourced meats and produce, the team is now led by a dietitian and chef partnering to develop meals that are nutritious and flavorful.

Together, they have successfully introduced popular dishes such as miso-ginger ramen with tofu or beef, scratch-made Alfredo pasta, vegetarian enchiladas and build-your-own bowls.

TX Districts Cultivate Farm to School Connections Through Local Food Hub

Lake Travis ISD and Manor ISD in Texas have reimagined farm-to-school connections through a Food Hub Pilot program.

The collaborative program relies on partnerships with the Central Texas Food Bank for infrastructure and delivery support and the Sustainable Food Center to help align menu forecasting with regional harvests. Connections were made with local farms, including Farmshare Austin, Hope Full Farms and The Refugee Collective, who contributed fresh, organic and sustainably grown foods.

South Carolina Students Serve Up Creativity in Culinary Competition

Students from the School District of Pickens County (SC) offered up their best culinary creations in hopes of impressing the taste buds of judges in the Healthy Salad and Sandwich Culinary Competition. The annual event is designed to provide students with hands-on education in cooking, recipe development and producing and serving recipes in large quantities.

Michigan Schools’ Culinary Program Provides Glimpse of Nutrition Program

Career Tech Center students from Muskegon County Schools are enjoying a scrumptious yet practical education in preparing and serving locally-grown foods and experiencing a day in the life of food service managers, all while earning credit for select local colleges.

The yearlong Hospitality and Food Management program at the Career Tech Center is designed for high school juniors and seniors, different lessons are implemented every eight weeks. This month, students are creating recipes and receiving feedback on which recipes to alter. In-class focus groups and taste-tests will be held among students of all ages to determine which offerings will be featured at a school-wide event held before Thanksgiving. Students also job shadow food service professionals to gain invaluable on-the-job experience for those considering food, beverage and hospitality professions.

Cobb County School Menus Go Global

The more than 900 school food service team members at Cobb County School District in Georgia have embraced the challenge of creating a menu filled with nutritious and delicious foods representing cultures from around the globe and ensuring menus are constantly evolving.

Those efforts culminate to offer students a culinary tour of the globe!

Iron Chef Breakfast Competition in NY School

Hosting Iron Chef-style competitions has become an anticipated special event for Mechanicville City School District students in New York. Deborah Mackey, Food Service Director in the district, helps to put on about four each year, typically giving student teams a specific ingredient to include for a lunch dish. Past competitions have featured locally grown beef and apples, but the focus has never previously been on breakfast.

Mackey introduced the idea recently and held a breakfast competition to lead up to National School Breakfast Week (NSBW), a great opportunity for students to try new menu items and focus on the importance of breakfast.

Minnesota Thursday Program Kicks Off Black History Month

Food can be a window into different cultures and a learning tool to introduce students to meals not typically served within their homes. To that end, students in 16 schools across Roseville Area and St. Anthony Schools (MN) were treated to made-from-scratch menu items from St. Paul-based West Indies Soul Food chef Sharon Richards-Noel on Feb. 1^st in conjunction with Black History Month. The menu included sizzling jerk chicken drumsticks, seasoned curried rice, and delicious sides of Caribbean black beans and watermelon radishes.

Seattle Schools Source Salmon from Native American Tribe

Many school nutrition programs were forced to take a closer look at how they operate and where they source their food following pandemic-related supply chain challenges. For Seattle Public Schools (WA), that meant new opportunities to consider local sources to supplement shortages. Through assistance from Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment (OSE), the district now serves locally caught salmon for lunch several times a year from Muckleshoot Seafood Products, a company owned by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.

Cooks & Books Kicks off Summers in Kansas

Cooking lessons and good books are the perfect ingredients for a successful summer lunch program in one Kansas district. The Cooks & Books program began as a collaboration between Wamego Unified School District 320’s food service director and the city’s library director and has become something that members of the community look forward to each year.

Illinois Student Guest Chefs

The school kitchen is proving to be a popular choice for some Illinois students to cash in on their good behavior rewards. The “star bucks” rewards can get them perks such as having lunch with the principal or providing a pass to skip homework for a day. But elementary students at two McHenry School District 15 schools have enjoyed the option to redeem their rewards to be guest chefs for the day, according to the district food services director.