How School Foodservice Chefs Can Inspire Kids to Eat Healthier Delicious Meals
School bells will ring once again, and the excitement of a new academic year begins in September.
A back-to-school aspect that often generates significant attention is school food.
With growing awareness about health and nutrition, schools face the challenge to make meals that are not only nutritious but also delicious and tempting for kids.
This shift in focus aims to ensure that children receive the essential nutrients they need while enjoying their meals, making lunchtime a highlight of their day rather than a chore.
Across the country, more schools are using innovative approaches to school food, introducing vibrant, tasty, and healthful options that appeal to young palates.
From farm-to-school programs that bring fresh, locally sourced ingredients to the cafeteria, to creative menu designs that make healthy eating fun, educators and nutritionists are working hand in hand to transform school meals. Schools are also asking kids for their input through tastings where they rate the new offerings.
The goal is simple: to offer kids food that fuels their bodies and minds, making them eager to participate in healthy eating habits both in school and at home.
To dive deeper into how schools and parents can collaborate to inspire children to enjoy nutritious food, I reached out to Sally Sampson, the founder of ChopChop Family, a national nonprofit 501c3 organization.
Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and winner of the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Publication of the Year, ChopChop Family includes a diverse and inclusive collection of products for children, and their adults.
The magazine comes out four times a year with the seasons. It goes to every state and about 22 countries in English and Spanish. In addition to magazines and cookbooks, the ChopChop Family brand includes the Eatable Alphabet, digital content, and cooking curricula, reaching over three million families worldwide.
In my following interview, Sally shares her expert insights on what makes food appealing to kids and offers practical strategies for school chefs and parents looking to encourage children in appreciating wholesome food.
Sally, please tell us more about your expertise and ChopChop Family magazine. What was your goal for when you launched ChopChop?
My background is cookbook writing. I’ve authored/co-authored 26 cookbooks. I founded ChopChop 14 years ago, when I learned about obesity and how it affects children. It occurred to me that children should take some responsibility for their own eating and health by learning how to cook.
The original idea behind ChopChop was to get doctors to prescribe cooking during well child visits, whether the child was obese or not. So while the idea came out of the obesity epidemic, it’s really for all children, to get them thinking about what they’re eating and doing some cooking themselves.
If you look at different countries and different cultures, the healthiest cultures are the ones where people are cooking from scratch. And in the United States, there’s so much prepared and processed food and our health outcomes are plummeting.
Our goal is to get kids to cook real food with their families. And we look at everything through the lens of food and cooking. So, for instance, in the magazine, we have science, we have financial literacy. You can really pick any topic and use cooking to learn about it.
With school food often sparking discussion about taste appeal and health benefits for kids, how can school chefs inspire kids eat healthy foods and cook them at home with their parents?
Chefs in schools can make a really big impact. They can have a little table in the lunchroom where they can sample a simple and delicious dish and give out a recipe card.
When the child gets home, ideally, they talk about this great dish they had at school and ask if they can make it at home, using the recipe card. My suggestion to school chefs is to make sure that some of the things that they’re preparing are incredibly simple. This is one way to connect with kids in school, whether it’s in the classroom or the lunchroom.
How can school foodservice incorporate cultural diversity in menus and turn it into learning experiences for children?
We often take a basic dish and show how it’s both the same and different in different cultures. For example, in our winter issue, we did chicken soup all around the world. We showcase a basic chicken soup and then add your more typical Italian/Greek/Thai spices to reflect that country.
I don’t personally think that when you’re doing this kind of thing, it’s critical to be authentic. If you think about, say, oregano and dill, the association there is Greek, and maybe you put lemon in it. It’s not going to be perfect, but it is evocative of that culture.
What’s really important is that you make sure everything is incredibly delicious, and easy for someone else to reproduce. You want to make sure that a child can do most of the parts. Obviously, if you’re cooking butternut squash, you suggest that the parent do the cutting, because that’s really hard for a child.
The two most important things are to make it is easy for a child by not having a gazillion steps and to make sure that the flavors are accessible. There’s no reason, for instance, to not introduce a variety of ingredients. Take curry. People often say, oh, it’s spicy. Curries are not always spicy.
There’s no inherent reason why a child has to grow up eating bland food. Sometimes parents do the editing even before letting the child taste the food. The child may really enjoy it. You never know.
Let kids discover, let them decide. Also, maybe they didn’t like a certain flavor the last time they tried it, but this time, they think it’s the greatest thing in the world. You know, picky eating is often really inspired by the parent, not the child, because the parent doesn’t feed the child interesting foods.
What are effective ways to encourage children to try and appreciate plant-based foods?
Don’t call it out. Don’t say vegetarian, don’t say it’s vegan, don’t say it’s plant based. Just say salad of crunchy broccoli.
When we were doing Meatless Monday and Kids cook Monday, we would always have a vegetable recipe, and eventually it became vegan because of the climate. But we didn’t restrict families when it came to their menus. I think sometimes we get a little too restrictive and you lose people.
Let’s say you came to my house for dinner, and I made a frittata, and it had all these great vegetables in it as well as cheese. I wouldn’t say: I’m serving you a vegetarian meal.
Menu descriptions should be written so that the diner thinks a dish sounds really great. If it’s a salad and you’re calling it low-fat, the diner immediately thinks: it’s not going to taste good. Focus instead on the delicious ingredients of the dish, the tempting flavors and texture.
What are the three most popular recipes on the ChopChop Family website that can inspire school chefs and get kids excited – really excited that they want to cook the dishes at home with their parents?
The recipe that is most googled is: One Ingredient Banana Ice Cream and I just made it last night. You simply slice and freeze overripe bananas, add them to a food processor and then process until they form a ball. You can make it with anywhere from 1- 4 bananas, and can add more flavors if you like. Last night I added Grape-Nuts at the end:
Double Vegetable Fried Rice is another favorite. It’s pretty much a classic fried rice but with more vegetables. It’s easy to make and it’s a great way to use leftover rice, listed below and found online:
All of our smoothies are popular and here is one I particularly like:
For more ChopChop Family cooking tips and recipes, go to Chop Chop Family’s website.
Double-Vegetable Fried Rice
We love cramming as many vegetables as we can into our fried rice. It’s a great way to try a vegetable that’s new to you. What do you have in your crisper drawer? If you think it might work in this dish, go ahead and add it. You can also add chopped fresh basil or cilantro leaves at the end. Prep Time 45 mins
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 3 scallions, chopped, whites and greens kept separate
- 2 celery ribs, including the leaves, chopped
- 3 cups assorted sliced or diced vegetables, such as bell peppers, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, and/ or mushrooms
- 3 cups leftover, ideally day-old, cooked brown rice
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 4 cups baby kale or spinach
- 1⁄2 cup frozen peas
- 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 1⁄4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Instructions
- Put the skillet on the stove and turn the heat to medium-high. When the skillet is hot (if you flick water on it, the water should dance and evaporate), add the sesame oil, scallion whites, celery, and assorted vegetables and cook, stirring once, until they start to brown, 3–5 minutes.
- Add the rice and stir until everything is well mixed and heated through. Lower the heat to medium-low.
- Push the rice to one side of the skillet and add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs and cook until set, about 1 minute, scrambling as you go. Mix the eggs into the rice.
- Add the scallion greens, kale or spinach, frozen peas, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, vinegar, sesame seeds, and crushed red pepper, if using, and mix well. Cook until the kale or spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.
- Now taste the fried rice. Does it need another tiny splash of soy sauce? If so, add it and taste again. Serve right away.
Notes: No scallions? No problem! You can substitute chopped onion. Cook the onion in the sesame oil for 5 minutes before adding the celery and other vegetables. You can also add a minced garlic clove, if you like.
