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Transcript

S5 E3 - Crunch Time: Inspiring Kids to Love Healthy Food · Inside the OSD

• 0:03
  SPEAKER 1: Today we are at Forest Edge Elementary to take part in one of our favorite fall traditions,
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  the Great Apple Crunch. We'll hear about this beloved event, which is just one of the ways that our school nutrition team creates excitement
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  about healthy foods to set the stage for healthy, lifelong habits for our students.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER 2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:31
  Here is our host, lifelong educator, community member, and our superintendent, Doctor Shannon Anderson.
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  SPEAKER 1: Welcome to Inside the OSD. Please introduce yourselves, your role on the school nutrition team,
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  and a little bit about your journey in the district.
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  SPEAKER 3: Hi, I'm Mandy. I am the school nutrition director and food service.
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  I've been here--this will be year three going on, and I think I've learned a lot in the last few years already.
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  And every year it just keeps getting better here. We try different things.
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  We're getting more involved in the community.
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  I feel like using fresh produce and stuff like that.
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  So I mean, it's been a very exciting two, two years so far.
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  SPEAKER 1: Awesome.
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  SPEAKER 4: And my name is Kelly Draves. I am the lead cook at Forest Edge.
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  Um, I have an educational and work experience in culinary arts management and early childhood development.
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  So when I saw this job opportunity in 2023, it sounded like the perfect fit for me while trying to balance everything with
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  my family. And I'm still here loving it.
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  SPEAKER 1: That's awesome! Well, I'm so happy that you're both here with us today.
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  Um, let's start off by talking about the overarching philosophy of our school nutrition program.
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  Um, so like, how do you balance those nutrition guidelines with creating menus that students genuinely look forward to eating?
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  SPEAKER 3: Well, that one will be me. I feel like the guidelines are always changing.
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  Um, definitely over the last two years that I've been here.
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  Um, but we're always looking for healthier meals for the students to eat.
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  And what's nice is we are part of the Wisconsin Co-op group.
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  Okay. And so we get to kind of balance ideas off each other.
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  What--what works in one school can work in another school or what's something worked in their school.
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  Maybe not will work here, but it's fun to kind of bounce ideas off of them just because the guidelines are always changing.
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  And so we are kind of a team, which I really love being part of.
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  And then we also, with the changing guidelines and stuff, we're able to get a lot of products more to follow those guidelines,
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  whether it's chicken nuggets, kids love chicken nuggets.
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  So we can--we're always finding low sodium and better chicken nuggets and stuff like that.
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  So that's also very helpful for us. I feel like that's changed over the years just with the products that we can get.
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  Um, so that is exciting to see for it to keep evolving on that down that line.
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  And more farmers are trying to get into the programs, which is also really nice to see.
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  They want to go into schools. So that's very beneficial for us.
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  SPEAKER 1: All right. Well, let's walk us through a typical day kind of behind the scenes in the OSD kitchens.
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  What does the preparation look like before those doors open for school lunch?
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  SPEAKER 4: So I think I get here early in the morning while it's nice and quiet, and then it's go,
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  go, go. Um, we start by getting breakfast ready.
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  Um, Forest Edge is, specifically, has learners from kindergarten through sixth grade.
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  So it's a lot of fun to have different ages.
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  Um, sometimes there's siblings that can walk through together or, um, older kids modeling behavior for little kids or vice versa sometimes.
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  Um, I love that that time of day, the kids are a little bit sleepy and I'm like more energetic,
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  you know, so it's, you know, quiet when they're getting their breakfast. But I'm happy they start their day out with some food. Um,
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  as far as preparing for lunch, there's like an incredible amount of detail and systems that go in place between,
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  I guess, Mandy, our boss, and expectations from her, but also a state and federal,
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  you know, guidelines documenting temperatures from the minute something comes in the door,
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  we're tracking it, logging it, temping it, um, couldn't do it without our amazing team in the kitchen here.
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  SPEAKER 3: Kelly said it perfectly. Um, we have an amazing team in the kitchens.
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  Everyone works really well together. Um, we have seven schools, so we have seven kitchens and it's pretty much as soon as
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  they get in the doors, they are working hard.
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  So the time they leave, which is great, but they do also have fun.
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  SPEAKER 1: So I sense that they do joke
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  SPEAKER 3: with each other. So, um, which is also really nice is the team.
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  If they have any suggestions, they come to Jenny or myself. And so we can always make those changes on the menu.
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  Or even if they say, hey, I found this fun, like right now we have a banana or a banana split parfait at the middle school,
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  and we're doing it at the high school because someone saw it at another school, one of our kitchen team members. So we tried that out. So we're--so that's
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  always fun. Someone posted them, or someone wanted us to have pumpkin spice milk.
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  And unfortunately, Kemps doesn't carry it.
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  SPEAKER 1: Pumpkin spice
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  SPEAKER 3: milk? So maybe next year. Because I planted that seed.
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  Love it. But it's fun for the kitchen to always come up with ideas.
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  SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Well, you've talked a little bit about some of the, the new things that you've been trying in the kitchen,
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  like including local farmers and things like that.
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  Um, overall, I've noticed, especially in my time in education, that school meals look a lot different than they did in the past.
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  Are there any other like big differences with our school meals compared to maybe like when parents and grandparents,
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  um, in our community compared to today? What would be some of the things that stand out the most?
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  SPEAKER 3: I think the quality has gone up a lot. Yeah, yeah, since then, which is really great.
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  I, I think that products that we can get are better quality and more focused on nutrition.
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  Back then, it wasn't so focused on nutrition and now it is, which is really nice.
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  And just like the farmers, they want to get in and they want to have fresh produce for the children,
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  which is really nice. Um, so that's, I think the biggest change.
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  I think more things are coming available, like chicken nuggets, kids favorites.
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  We had, um, someone made bat chicken nuggets that we were able to get and we had them Tuesday,
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  I think. So that's always fun just trying to incorporate those things. I don't think back in the day they had fun things like that shaped chicken nuggets for
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  the kids. Oh well
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  SPEAKER 1: and one thing too I see in the kitchens is there are, there are entree choices,
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  um, especially as students get into the upper grades.
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  Um, and also really being responsive to a lot of the dietary needs of our students is something that I see the nutrition team.
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  Um, that is perfect, too.
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  SPEAKER 3: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER 4: Well said.
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  SPEAKER 3: Yeah, she was great. Allergies are never going to go away.
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  I think they're just becoming. Yeah. We keep finding new allergies or keep more students are being presented with allergies and our kitchen team takes that very
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  serious. Definitely here at FES. Um, she is always looking at labels and double checking things to make sure those children can have that item.
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  SPEAKER 1: So whenever we ask students about their favorite part of the school day, lunch seems to always be at the top of the mind.
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  Um, what is it like experiencing that energy and excitement in the cafeteria every day?
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  SPEAKER 4: So some days are louder and more exciting than other days, especially days the weather keeps the kids inside from recess.
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  Yeah. And so I try to remind myself how important it is to have them socializing and having this free time.
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  Um, mealtime is what we're here for though, right?
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  So we try to make it fun and create good memories.
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  SPEAKER 1: Mhm. I love that. We often talk about how the cafeteria is an extension of the classroom.
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  What are some creative strategies or taste tests or ideas that you've used to encourage students to try new and healthy foods?
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  SPEAKER 4: So each day we try to offer not force like, oh, just try a little, you know?
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  And I love, love that we have so many fresh fruits and vegetables, carrots, broccoli,
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  cucumbers, celery, kiwi, strawberries, oranges, bananas, watermelon, grapes, pears,
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  and of course, apples. Yeah, and even apples we do in so many, like we do the baked apples.
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  We do applesauce, sliced apples.
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  SPEAKER 3: Apples, apple parfaits.
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  SPEAKER 4: Yes.
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  SPEAKER 1: So, Kelly, I'm glad you mentioned apples because today is extra special with the Great Apple Crunch.
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  Can you explain what this event is and why celebrating local agriculture is so meaningful for our students?
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  SPEAKER 3: Perfect. It is something that the Midwest celebrates today.
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  It's kind of a month long thing, but today is the focus of trying to really get apples into the school and take a crunch out of them at the same time.
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  So you can just hear the crunch around the state.
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  Um, and this is more supporting local food purchasing and encouraging healthy eating throughout the states.
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  Okay. So it is a fun thing to do. We use a local farm called Eplegaarden from Fitchburg.
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  Oh sure. We've been using them since for the last three years.
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  And so they give us a variety of apples.
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  He drops them off in crates, and then we just send them to the school so the kids can pick an apple.
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  And what's nice about this is Kelly had mentioned this earlier today to me that everyone gets an apple,
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  not just people having hot lunch. Nice people at cold lunch can come up and get an apple as well,
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  so they can experience a fresh apple picked from a tree that they picked for you,
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  which I think is great. So kids know they can go visit Eplegaarden, they do fresh picking,
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  they have pumpkins.
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  SPEAKER 4: So and I think anytime kids can get out there and see where food comes from, like we're part of a CSA that lets us pick stuff.
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  And I love it. Like having that fresh fruit, veg, flowers, all that.
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  SPEAKER 1: And I love it that we're using a local farmer for this event too.
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  That's great. All right, so before we go today, what advice or simple tips would you give parents and guardians who are trying
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  to encourage healthy eating habits at home?
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  SPEAKER 4: Keep trying. Um, today is actually breakfast for lunch day, which was one of our most popular days.
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  So I mean, in our house, like, that's a great idea.
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  Um, but everybody's house is different and, you know, schedules are busy money and all of that.
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  We try to have like a bowl of fruit on the counter at home always, or cut veggies in the fridge or protein,
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  you know, so kids can kind of make choices at our household.
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  Um, they're all so picky though, right? They have their own things they like or don't.
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  SPEAKER 1: Like, but just, you know, it sounds like giving them some opportunities and keeping things available makes a big difference.
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  SPEAKER 3: Exactly. Letting them try something new and seeing if they like it.
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  They may like it, they may not. And that's okay. We don't have to like everything,
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  but I always applaud them for trying something new just to see if they like it.
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  Um, maybe making it into a fun little game and letting them pick out dinner for one night and be like,
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  what would you pick out for dinner? And trying to be like, can you hit all these?
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  Not ingredients, but I mean, can you add a veggie?
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  Can you add a fruit? Something like that.
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  SPEAKER 4: And not to talk about apples again, but my favorite
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  SPEAKER 1: thing
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  SPEAKER 4: this
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  SPEAKER 5: time of year is
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  SPEAKER 4: if you slice apples. I do like apple nachos.
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  If people can have nut butter or whatever, and drizzle a little of that with some, you know,
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  chocolate chips or, you know, instead of dessert, you know, encouraging some fruit sounds like a
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  SPEAKER 3: delicious
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  SPEAKER 4: dessert.
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  SPEAKER 6: Yes it does. Well, great advice.
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  SPEAKER 1: Thank you so much for being here today. But more importantly, thank you for making sure that our students have nutritious meals and that lunch
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  and breakfast can be a really memorable, important part of their day. So thank you and thank you to your
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  teams. Yes.
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  SPEAKER 4: Thank you.
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  SPEAKER 7: You can find this podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts and links to all episodes are on our website at oregonsd.org.
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  Make sure to subscribe and follow Inside the OSD so you'll never miss an episode.
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  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.