Medford chef to redo lunch

It is time to rethink school lunch in Medford, where the public schools will soon have a professional chef.

Gone are the days when many of Medford’s schools did not have kitchens and when hot lunch meant a foil-wrapped mystery that had been heated at the high school and trucked across the city. To new kitchens and cafeterias, thanks to an ambitious decade of school construction projects, and a food services director with an interest in health and wellness, the district has now added a chef to revamp its menus.

Bridget Collins, a Cambridge School of Culinary Arts graduate who has worked at Davio’s in Boston and in the executive kitchen at Fidelity Investments, will start work in Medford Jan. 7. Her goal is to incorporate more fresh produce, whole grains, and colorful entrees into school cafeterias – and to do it without driving up the price of lunch or driving away the young customers. (more…)

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MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Putting heat on school menus
Entrepreneurs focus on boosting healthy lunch, snack choices
By Ann Meyer
Special to the Tribune – December 31, 2007

Fighting childhood obesity has become a pet cause for Susan and Robert Rogers and their Hanover Park-based family-owned business, School Health Corp., a supplier to school nurses and athletic trainers.

“It drives me crazy when I see chicken fingers and french fries on the lunch menu,” said Robert Rogers, executive vice president of the 100-employee firm.

That’s why Rogers is cutting back on his corporate duties next year to spend more time working pro bono for the Healthy Schools Campaign, a Chicago-based not-for-profit. As a board member, he spends about one day a month working with the group. In addition, School Health has contributed $35,000 over the past two years to the group, and Robert was part of a team that ran in the Chicago Marathon on behalf of the organization, together raising about $30,000. (more…)

Summit lunches climb food pyramid

School breaks away from district lunch program

By Amy Bounds Camera Staff Writer
Monday, December 31, 2007

Photo by Marty Caivano

Summit Middle School students Bryn Newell, left, and Emily Sun stand in line to pay for their hot lunch, which includes all-natural barbecued chicken, organic green beans and potatoes. Summit, a Boulder charter school, started a new, healthier lunch program this year.

A recent hot lunch at Summit Middle School included barbecued chicken, fresh green beans, baked potatoes and whole-wheat pumpkin cake — mostly organic and all prepared from scratch that morning.

Or students could pick from an assortment of a la carte items, including chicken-salad sandwiches, chicken Caesar salad and burritos with brown rice, organic beans and cheese. There also were fruit salads, granola bars, sugar cookies and various juices. (more…)

Schools around the country are focusing on serving more healthful food to students to combat childhood obesity. But what about the food served near the schools?

In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers from the University of Illinois have mapped out the locations of more than 31,000 middle schools and high schools and compared them to the locations of 129,000 fast-food restaurants and convenience stores. The location of fast-food outlets close to schools is important because from 5 percent to 15 percent of high school students leave campus for lunch. And more than two-thirds of students don’t ride school buses, meaning they walk, bike, take public transit or are dropped off from cars, giving them unsupervised access before and after school to nearby eateries. (more…)

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Healthy relationships

Program teaches good food and exercise habits to the moms and caregivers of girls

By Jody Temkin
Special to the Tribune
December 21, 2007

The 10 women gathered around a table at Mason Elementary School in North Lawndale watched in mock horror as Sara Whalin counted out the teaspoons of sugar in a 20-ounce bottle of soda. Whalin spooned one teaspoon after another into a clear container, while the women counted and groaned. The number finally stopped at 13 teaspoons.

“That’s what you’re drinking when you have a soda,” Whalin told the women, holding up the container. A few women vowed they would think twice before grabbing a soda for themselves or their children.

And that’s the point of BodyWorks, a program developed three years ago by the Office on Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. BodyWorks teaches mothers and other caregivers of girls ages 9 to 13 about good eating habits and the importance of exercise. In what’s called a “train the trainer” model, the women are encouraged to share what they learn with their families and other caregivers. (more…)