Published: October 13, 2008 04:25 pm            

Students learn nutrition during lunch week

Welcome to National School Lunch Week in Cleburne, where students can look forward in the next five days to colorful paper bags with nutritional information, trinkets and lip-smacking good food.

What they probably won’t get is anything exotic.

“I brought in Oriental this year,” said CISD child nutrition director Kim Chance. “I thought we’d do an Oriental day every six weeks. You know what? The kids didn’t respond well to egg rolls.”

It’s a fact that kids prefer fast food — at least fast food they can recognize.

“Fast food drives these kids,” Chance said. “But now the state doesn’t allow us to fry [at the intermediate and elementary levels]. We can still fry at the high school, and we can fry at the middle schools three times a week.

“Only two campuses have fried French fries. I think the kids are unhappy with the fries we have and some of the menu items. I don’t think kids want reduced fat. I wish the state would kind of leave some of that alone.”

Cleburne students generally eat what’s on their plates for a simple reason, according to Chance.

“We have great food in Cleburne.”

But being highly edible, of course, doesn’t guarantee it will be eaten.

“I don’t have any written studies about what they leave on their plates,” Chance said. “What I do is go to the campuses and see what the kids are dumping in the trash cans. I’ll also eat lunch with the kids. For the most part, they eat their food.

“I want the children to select what they want. I have found that if you let kiddos pick what they want, they’re going to eat it. The big items kids love are chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. I also have kids who like meat loaf and spaghetti with meat sauce. We do scratch cooking on those.

“I go to taste testings. If I don’t like something, and my managers don’t like it, I can’t see a kid liking it.”

Among the challenges of food service is making bad food, such as beets and turnips, taste like good food.

“We use seasonings,” she said. “We season to gear it toward comfort food.”

Cafeteria food of yore was not always comfortable.

“I don’t have memories like that,” Chance said. “I grew up in Lawton, Okla. I remember on Tuesday we could buy chocolate milk for 2 cents. I didn’t like white milk, but I loved chocolate milk.

“And our food was very old-fashioned and home-cooked. The ladies in the cafeterias wore those Ruth Buzzi hairnets. They looked like grandma and cooked like grandma.”

Grandma cooked with real butter and bacon fat, no-no’s to the public school food police.

“Years ago, one of the popular things was homemade pizza,” Chance said. “There were corny dogs, hot dogs, chili dogs, heavy fat items with real butter and cheese. Now, the USDA tells us to get away from that.”

Modern school cafeteria food is tasty, Chance said, because food preparation is creative.

“We serve food that’s colorful, inviting ... fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, lots of fresh foods, though not everything is from scratch.”

If she can make something healthier without sacrificing taste, all the better.

“I use a ranch light dressing, not the full fat. I may blend fat-free with light.”

There’s a creative line she won’t cross.

“We won’t be having egg rolls again.”

        

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