School Lunch Challenge Recap
The Project Lunch: School Lunch Challenge event held at Marin Academy in San Rafael on November 12 was an evening of food, wisdom, and dialogue to inspire nutritious, local, seasonal and organic food offerings for all students at all schools. The evening opened with inspirational presentations from students who lead the PL Campaign effort along with esteemed community leaders including; Congressmember Lynn Woolsey and Chef Ann Cooper.
School Lunch Challenge: Following the dialogue was the School Lunch Challenge featuring six esteemed local chefs asked to prepare a school lunch that was nutritious, flavorful, locally sourced, seasonal, wholesome and as organic as possible with thought given to innovation and creativity in presentation, use of ingredients and menu. The secret ingredient: it had to be prepared within the guidelines of the school lunch program mandated by the USDA– chefs had a mere $1.20 to spend on each meal. It was a challenge, but one that our children face daily given the highly processed food they are served for lunch made with partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar and flour, chemicals, dyes and preservatives. With Chef Ann Cooper hosting the challenge, the Chefs rose to the occasion creating fantastic meals (see attached menu) that all got the thumbs up from the team of student judges from Marin County high schools, representing their peers.
Heidi Krahling, Chef/Owner of Insalatas with her team of attendees served up the event’s top favorites; Vegetarian enchilades, black bean and corn salad, basmati rice salad, and tangerines. Congratualtions Heidi! Once the food was prepared, everyone sat down and lunch became dinner for the more than 200 attendees.
Next Steps for Project Lunch:
We will use these six menus as a pilot program. First, they will be vetted by a local School Food Service Director, to ensure compliance with the USDA standards for nutrition and cost. Once we pass that hurdle, we will work to integrate some of these delicious offerings into the local school lunch program. With Michelle Obama putting out a call for schools to partner with local chefs in order to transition the food, we are responding and hoping to ensure the health and well being of all students in all schools. If we can step outside the conventional school lunch box - then we can be the change makers. At the same time, we can lobby for policy change that puts our kids first and allows them to nourished and healthy. If we can’t do this in Marin, then where?
Learn More
Agenda
Panelists
Evening Recap
Photos
Menus
Video of Event
Recipes