NORWICH – Your typical Norwich City School District Board of Education meeting – which can run anywhere from one and a half to three hours or more – is usually a blend of consent agendas, the approval of bills, communications, public comment, action items and sometimes even entertainment.
Monday night, however, it was all about the food.
Approximately 30 students, educators and parents joined the district’s board of education for a brief presentation on healthier options in the lunchroom by Food Service Program Director Sue Ryan, followed by an awards ceremony recognizing a handful of students for their nutritional recipes – as part of a district-wide recipe contest – and a serving of some of the best its cafeterias have to offer.
The district’s food program, said Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan, is one that’s been revamped over the past few years. Ryan, he added, has done a “fantastic job” during that time, and the superintendent called her efforts “impressive, to say the least.”
Gone, according to Ryan, are many of the processed foods formerly offered to students – such as artificially flavored chicken tenders and patties – replaced by more fresh produce, such as bananas, grapes, peppers, radishes, oranges and more. Other offerings, like hummus and yogurt, have also been popular with many students.
“We’re trying to do a whole food revolution here ... kids are loving the changes,” added Ryan. “We’re really going back to homemade food and I think the kids are getting more and more excited about it.”
And while fresh foods may come at a higher cost in regards to the district’s food budget, admitted the lunch director, such costs are offset in part by cutting unhealthy, processed foods from the menu.
The end result, according to O’Sullivan, is a healthier, more energetic student body.
“A constant message we stress here in Norwich schools is that everyone, all employees, help to teach our children. Our Food Service Program, led by Mrs. Ryan, has done an excellent job working with students and making some very healthy changes in our food program,” added the superintendent. “The school menus now show more options, with more fresh fruits and vegetables, and healthier ingredients. Students are taking the time to write thank you notes and letters to our food service staff, which shows we are moving in the right direction.”
The switch to healthier food in the cafeteria is not associated with First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, said Ryan; it’s something the district has been working toward for several years now.
According to letsmove.gov, however, obesity rates in America have tripled over the past 30 years and nearly one in three children today are considered overweight or obese. A healthier menu, said Ryan, is just one way to combat those statistics.
Recognized during the brief awards ceremony were Stanford-Gibson’s Gehrig Sastri and middle school student Samantha Ceballos for best pizza recipes; Perry Browne students Brandon Huestis and Samuel Solomon for best soup recipes and high school students Carrie Sites and Stephanie Lamphere for best big cookie recipes, a popular choice on what’s become known as Big Cookie Monday at NHS.
The primary goal of the competition, said Ryan, was to “get the kids thinking about nutrition” and “they really did a wonderful job.”
O’Sullivan agreed and added the recipe contest “worked to get students involved in making better food choices.”
Each of the recipes was featured several times throughout the month of February in district cafeterias.