Who Feeds Our Kids: Erica Frank

Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

ERICA FRANK

Erica is the School Nutrition Site Manager at Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls where she is starting her second year. We sat down with Erica in September to learn more about her work and how things have shifted since March. Here are some highlights from our conversation:

Michelle Pinter-Petrillo (MPP): How long have you been working in food service?

“ Knowing that people needed the food and we could still make them food kept me going.”

— Erica Frank

Erica Frank (EF): I’ve been working in food service for close to 14 years. I was a baker for many years and I went back to school for my degree in nutrition, I got out of food service for a number of years and worked as a counselor, and then got back into food when I took this job last year.

MPP: How has COVID-19 impacted what you are doing? 

EF: We don’t get to do as much variety with the kids, which is really hard. I first came back for breakfast and I could only give them certain things. We can no longer give them the choices and that’s really tough. 

We got a salad bar going last year and it really took off. We had so many options and it was so fun. It helped the kids try new things and we just don’t have that this year. 

I loved having the kids be able to come in and say to them “Oh hey, try this I know you usually like that but we don’t have that today, you should try this!” 

Students have to have the right components to make a meal so sometimes I have to chase after them and say you have to take milk or another side. They get all of the components now on their plate but they don’t get to choose it and I think that makes a difference.

When I take out the compost I can see “oh wow that’s a whole apple in there,” but I can’t see who ate what and help them make a different choice the next time which I used to be able to do in the cafeteria.

MPP: What has kept you going during this time? 

EF: When the schools shut down in March, I was able to have enough child care so I could work even though I have two young kids. Knowing that people needed the food and we could still make them food kept me going. And we make good food here. I’m very proud of the food we make. We were even able to open it to not just kids in the school but to the community and that made it nice to come into work and feel proud about feeding our community.

I have a 1st grader and a 2-year old. I’ve gotten lots of support from friends and family to help watch the kids. And I got them into daycare—the two-year-old is in daycare for the first time this year. We are still figuring it out but we still need help. 

MPP: What has been your biggest challenge during this time? 

EF: Dealing with all of the changes like the limited meal offerings, that really is a struggle for me. It’s been hard feeling that the kids aren’t getting the nutrition education I know they could get. But another thing to get me through it is that, hopefully, it is short term. We are pretty good at tackling things as they come on and tackling them as a team. We’ve been working with the teachers, and have navigated how schools are different now.

We have breakfast items at school so I can put together however many bags with the different items and drop them off at each classroom. In the mornings the teachers take their meal counts to see who wants lunch. I come here (BFHS) after my breakfast shift and help them finish any meals for school. After, I pack up insulated bags with all of my meals and bring them back to the school before lunch; I figure out what classroom needs what and I pack it up. I make sure there is milk, all the components, silverware. There are lots of logistics. We are serving 40 meals for breakfast and lunch. We want to make sure that any kid can have breakfast now that it is universal, the teachers have been pretty good at making sure to let kids know it’s not going to cost them anything. They can keep some items for later on cause that’s a big thing too. When kids would come out of breakfast last year you know they were keeping a few things to have for a snack later. Our enrollment for the school is about 60 for each pod, 60 Monday/Tuesday and 60 Thurday/Friday.

MPP: What does the community do to make you feel supported?  

EF: We get a pretty good response for our food which helps—you know that people are enjoying the food that you’re offering. We have families that are thanking us at pickup and others who email, reaching out for delivery and to say thanks. But I miss seeing the kids.

MPP: What advice do you have for someone interested in working in food service?

EF: Look at the overall picture of the job. Sometimes it is very monotonous, where you’re just scooping beans. It might not be very glamorous but if you look in the long run, knowing that you’re feeding people is always a nice feeling and a good thing to keep in mind. There is so much food service opportunity. The idea of mass meals, the amount of logistics, it's a lot tougher than people think but it is very rewarding.

MPP: What brings you joy?

EF: Knowing that I’m serving up local food, and good quality food. We try to do a lot of local foods. We get some pre-made stuff but we still try to get good quality stuff and we actually read the ingredients. I knew Harley did that when I came on, which is part of the reason I came on. Last year, having the ability to make food from scratch and having the ability to actually make homemade food for kids brought me a lot of joy.

I am grateful for the food quality. I’m grateful for the team who comes together at this time to make it work, no drama and just getting the job done. People coming together and bringing lots of different skill sets have been really nice. We’ve made it work and we’ll continue to make it work.

Who Feeds Our Kids: Jessica Boucher

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Jessica Boucher

Introducing Jessica Boucher! As a school food service professional, Jessica has fed students in our community for the past two years. She worked at Green Street School during the 2018-2019 school year and at Dummerston School this past school year, until schools closed in March when she joined the team that prepares meals for all the schools at the Academy School kitchen. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work and how things have changed for her this spring. Here are some highlights from that conversation:

“If I could change what people think about ‘lunch ladies,’ I would want them to know that we really care about the kids and that we are here to help the students.”

— Jessica Boucher

Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?

Jessica Boucher (JB): It’s very different. I’m working in a different school, and we’re working out of both the kitchen and the gym—cooking and bagging breakfasts, lunches, and dinners every day. I’m working a few more hours than I used to. There is a lot more food going out every day. In Dummerston, I would usually make lunch for about 70 kids. Now we’re feeding over 500 every day! There are a lot of special dietary needs, and I have some new co-workers from other schools.

SH: What has kept you going during these unusual times?

JB: What keeps me going is knowing that there are kids out there that are getting food that they wouldn’t get otherwise. I can’t sit home all day, I need to be busy working, so my work helps keep me sane.

SH: Do you have children at home? 

JB: Yes, I have three children, ages 16, 10, and 11.

SH: How are you managing with child care?

JB: My kids have been home on their own during the day. It’s not going so well, they aren’t doing their work like they should be doing, especially my high schooler. They have figured out how to do chores, though! It’s been a blessing and a curse.

SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?

JB: Remote learning. I come home from work and I go right into getting dinner ready and making sure the kids have done at least some school work and their chores. My stepdaughter is there sometimes too, so that’s 4 kids and they know how to make a mess!

SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?

JB: They can support us by recognizing us for doing a good job. We’ve always kind of been looked down on as “lunch ladies.” Our age range goes from 22 up into the 60s. When you think about your school lunch lady, you think of an old grouchy lady, and that lunch ladies don’t do a lot but we do a lot of hard work and a lot of what we cook is made from scratch. We have a large amount of cooking and packing to do in such a short amount of time. Everything we cook has to be packed and ready to go by 9:30 am each morning, which takes a lot! If I could change what people think about “lunch ladies,” I would want them to know that we really care about the kids and that we are here to help the students. It’s been hard not having the kids around, we’re used to seeing them all the time and we miss them! I’ve gotten to know a lot of kids. I know some of them come from difficult backgrounds and I’m worried about them. As a lunch lady, sometimes I feel like I’m a counselor too. The kids open up to me sometimes and tell me about being bullied by other kids or problems they have at home. I tell kids that if they don’t feel safe, they need to tell someone. When a kid tells me about a problem, I let the office know. I feel like we’re easier to talk to because we’re not teachers, we’re the lunch ladies and we sneak them extra tater tots and stuff and they like that. We’re part of the team of people that helps kids feel safe in the school.

SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in this career?

JB: If you’re interested, go for it! It’s not a job that’s going to pay all your bills, so if you are struggling and it’s your only source of income it’s probably not the best job for you. It’s a rewarding job with little pay, much like many other jobs. I myself have been nicer to my kids just seeing how hard it is for some of the kids in the schools where I work. I like the schedule, but all the vacations can be hard because you aren’t paid during that time. You can get unemployment during the vacations, but it’s a lot of hassle to get that set up.

SH: What brings you joy? 

JB: Seeing smiling kids, happy kids, and when the kids tell me they like the food and how good of a job I’m doing. 

SH: What is one thing you are grateful for?

JB: I’m grateful that I have a job, that I wasn’t laid off. I’m grateful for my community for stepping up and helping out and volunteering to help us get the food out to these kids.

More Than Local

Jennifer Gaddis’ new book, “The Labor of Lunch,” broadens the spotlight on school meals. Without diminishing the importance of healthy, local foods, Gaddis explores the activist work that brought the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to where it is today, exposes the systemic roadblocks preventing a new “economy of care” within our schools, and suggests actions readers can take now to be a part of the solution. 

What made you last think about school meals? When your child started Kindergarten? During Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign in 2010? Not since you graduated high school? 

To many, school meals are boring—as enticing as the thought of reading a 200+ page book on a dull government program. Food Connects works to dispel people’s biases of the former, partnering with school nutrition programs to incorporate more local food and scratch cooking, and to share stories of their success. Gaddis does quick work of the latter in her introduction: 

Ultimately, school lunch is about community. It’s also about the conflict between civil society, the government, and the private sector over what children should be fed, whose responsibility it is to feed them, who should do the work of feeding them, and what, exactly, this work should entail. More often than not, food for children to eat at school is prepared by a woman—a child’s caregiver, a private sector factory worker, or a public sector lunch lady—for free or for poverty wages.  

Labor of Lunch, p.5

All of a sudden—five pages in—school lunch doesn’t feel as innocuous as previously thought. 

The history of the NSLP starts back in the early 1900s with feminist activists Emma Smedley and Ellen Swallow Richards taking on the work of a nonprofit lunch program and advancing the new science of home economics. What’s most striking in these early sections of the book are the examples of how far we’ve come—far stricter food safety regulations and cafeterias finding a permanent home in schools—adjacent to conversations we’re still having today—debates over universal free meals and for-profit vs non-profit lunch programs. It’s a good reminder that progress isn’t always linear and successful activism is a balance of ideology and pragmatism.

One of these pragmatic compromises made by early activists sets the stage for the dichotomy we’re still working to dissolve today—that school nutrition programs need to “break-even” financially, despite no other school program shouldering the same expectation (imagine the administration expecting the science department to raise revenues to cover the cost of lab equipment). Due to the conservative, mostly male, school boards and administrations dictating policy, in the newly created school lunch programs, cheapness—at the expense of quality and workers—reigned supreme.     

The next three chapters—much of the book—is a chronicle of the persistent efforts of schools to reduce costs and corporations to eke out profits. Both, typically, at the expense of those serving our kids and most affecting poor people and communities of color. Along with women, BIPOC leaders were often on the frontlines fighting for change. The 1960s saw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Poor People's Campaign call upon the government to provide free lunch to all poor children and the Black Panther Party running the Free Breakfast for Children Program. Following in the 1970s was a conservative backlash and opening up of cafeterias to private corporations. 

The Labor of Lunch closely follows New Haven chapters of the labor union Unite Here, as well as the Minneapolis Public Schools, as examples of how to establish better economies of care within schools. These labor movements have emphasized the inextricable connection between food justice and racial justice. While both should be taught to our students, they should also be practiced in our schools. 

In Windham County, we can look to Windham Central Supervisory Union (Seed2Tray) and Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (Farm to School Cafe), as well as individual schools such as Putney Central School and Marlboro School, to find schools valuing labor. In all these cases, staff saw their pay increase and were offered school benefits. These are the test pilots for our entire region as we move back to locally-focused school nutrition programs that value their workers and the quality of the food.

Gaddis concludes by suggesting a “more expansive vision of what food systems could look like if we focus our collective efforts on transforming the NSLP into a hub for food justice—real food and real jobs—in every community across the rural-urban divide” (215). From the push for universal meals to local food hubs and community kitchens, much of that work has already taken hold in our region. With widespread community support and creative solutions, we could find our community leading the next step in the food justice movement. 

Order your copy of The Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American Public Schools today.

Written by Conor Floyd, Farm to School Program Manager

Who Feeds Our Kids: Linda Griffin

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Linda Griffin

Linda Griffin has worked in school food service for the past 3 to 4 years. She is trained to work at Oak Grove School, Green Street School, and Academy School. She drives the food delivery van between these three schools so she is at each school every day. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work and how things have changed for her this spring. Here are some highlights from that conversation:

“I got to know kids in every single school because I got to work at every one of them. When I go out sometimes I see a kid and he’ll say, ‘Hey mom, I know her, she’s the lunch lady!’”

— Linda Griffin

Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?

Linda Griffin (LG): I’m not driving the delivery van anymore which I like because the loading and unloading is a lot of heavy lifting which hurts my back. What we’re doing now with packing food for the bus delivery is also a lot of heavy lifting and I don’t think I could do both. 

In the kitchen, we’re preparing similar food, but the quantities are a lot more and we’re doing it in the same amount of time. We’re providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner now. When we took on doing dinners that made it a little more stressful but now that we’ve been doing them a while we’ve got our systems down. We weren’t sure we could pull it off in the same amount of time that we were doing breakfast and lunch, but we’ve got it figured out now so it’s fine.

SH: What is keeping you going during these unusual times?

LG: It keeps me going to have something to do every day when I wake up in the morning, someplace to go. I don’t know if I could have handled this sitting at home doing nothing and not being able to see my kids or my grandkids. I’m not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing. Having this job has definitely saved me from going stir crazy.

SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?

LG: My biggest challenge has been not seeing my family. My grandkids came over last weekend and it’s the first time I've seen them since this started. It was so nice! We sat outside and chatted about “old times.” It was funny, they aren’t little kids anymore, but it’s not like you would think they’d be sitting around talking about what we used to do, but they were.

SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?

LG: The community can support us by volunteering and helping out, and by saying thank you for what we do. That means a lot.

SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in school food service?

LG: Absolutely do it! It’s fun. We have a great time! It’s busy, you’ve got something to do every minute so the day goes by fast and we have fun. We talk, we play the radio. When school’s in session you get to see the kids and that’s really nice. I got to know kids in every single school because I got to work at every one of them. When I go out sometimes I see a kid and he’ll say, “Hey mom, I know her, she’s the lunch lady!”

SH: What brings you joy?

LG: My kids, my family, and getting up and being able to go to work every day.

SH: What are you grateful for?

LG: I’m grateful for having a job, my family, my kids, my friends, the school, and working with the kids. I like people!

Who Feeds Our Kids: Kerri Harlow

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Kerri Harlow

For 12 years Kerri Harlow has worked in school food service at Putney Central School (PCS). Before she was in food service she worked as a paraeducator at PCS for 10 years in the 1990’s. And this month, she is retiring. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work, how things have changed in her work since COVID-19, and some of the things she loves about her job. Here are some highlights from that conversation:

Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?

“It keeps me going to think about the children and know that we are still impacting their lives even though we’re not seeing them. I know that there are so many people that are totally dependent on 2 school meals a day for their children and it’s rewarding to help.”

— Kerri Harlow

Kerri Harlow (KH): For the first 3 weeks I continued to work all the hours that were needed to get the lunches out. Then, as the COVID cases got closer because my husband and I are both considered high risk (especially my husband) for a while I couldn’t come in to work at all. When things started opening up I began coming back in the afternoon every day and preparing food for the next day.  The worst part for me is to be in the building and have it be totally empty. It seems very odd. Not seeing the kids is very hard. We try not to always make sandwiches and brown bag lunches, so what we’re cooking hasn’t changed that much, it’s how we distribute it that has changed.

SH: What is keeping you going during these unusual times?

KH: It keeps me going to think about the children and know that we are still impacting their lives even though we’re not seeing them. I know that there are so many people that are totally dependent on 2 school meals a day for their children and it’s rewarding to help. Everyone receiving the meals has been so wonderful! We get emails and pictures of the children with their food, and one woman sent us a picture when we sent food for the entire week during April break. The picture was of her 2 children and her refrigerator that was packed and organized with the whole week's lunches and breakfasts. Knowing how much people have appreciated the meals and the fact that they are showing their appreciation with what they can, mainly with a note here or there has meant a lot.

SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?

KH: As far as school goes, it’s been challenging to feel like I am contributing enough because I have had to stay home for part of the time. It was hard for me to feel like I was doing my share, so I’m very happy to be back now, in the afternoons. I just made it my mission to put little gifts in the bags every Friday for the kids. It’s been the worst thing, not being at work when I know I’m supposed to be. Sometimes you come to work and you think, oh I wish I could stay home today, but then when it happens it’s not fun and you realize how much being at work really means.

SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?

KH: We’ve had a wonderful response from the staff members who are coming in and helping. This came about so quickly and we’ve never done this before, but it’s gone much more smoothly than I would have thought it would. I worry about next year. I wonder what's going to happen and how it's all going to come together. I wonder how long people can keep this going because it’s hard. As far as the community, they’ve done all that they can, and it definitely has been enough. Everyone has come together. It’s got to be done so we’re doing it!

SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in school food service?

KH: It is the most rewarding job I’ve ever had. It’s not easy at times, but since COVID-19, I have a whole new appreciation of the job. If someone has children in the school or in the district, it’s a great job because you have the same schedule as your children. When I was here as a paraeducator for 10 years in the 1990’s my children were in school here, and when I came back 12 years ago I was taking care of my granddaughter and she was in school here. It’s fantastic because the pressure is reduced as a working parent. The school understands when your child is sick and you have to stay home. Having the school vacations and snow days is great peace of mind. Working with the kids is wonderful. You get so close to them, handing them their meals every day. You wouldn’t think it would be enough time to connect with them but you do. It’s very, very rewarding and great to spend that much time with children.

SH: What brings you joy?

KH: My family and my work, and I love to do all different types of crafts. I’m retiring this year, and I can’t wait to come back as a volunteer. It’s not a job that you walk away from easily. I’m such good friends with everyone in the building, so I realized that if I volunteer I can have more one on one time with the kids. I love interacting with the kids and I’m looking forward to that when I come back as a volunteer. I love working with children. I had a home daycare, I was a para, and then I have been a cook here. Everything I’ve done for work has been child-oriented.

SH: What are you grateful for?

KH: I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work here twice when it was the perfect fit for my family. I’m very grateful for all the people here that I’ve met, some of whom have been friends since I worked here back in the 1990’s. I am extremely grateful for the insurance that the school provides. I didn’t have that as a paraeducator or when I worked here with a food service company, but when our meal program became independent the school put us on their insurance which was amazing. I’m very grateful to have had this job and have had it work so well. It’s been really, really wonderful. Seeing the kitchen change to an independent food service while I’ve been here was amazing, and Food Connects’ staff Helen, Katherine, and Richard were so wonderful. It is something I loved that happened while I was working here! It was very good for the school and we have such support from the community for the food program and I’m very grateful for that also.

SH: Final thoughts?

KH: I'm retiring at the end of this year and it’s going to be very, very hard to leave. It’s been a fantastic job. The closer retirement gets, I think, “what am I doing?” but it’s time to move on, and by no means am I walking away from this building. They will probably get sick of me! It’s been a fantastic job. I broke my shoulder this winter and I was out of work for 2 months. I was just starting to come back when the school closure happened. All of the kids made me cards and the staff made me food and I had all these special things I was going to do for each classroom when I came back but I couldn’t do any of it because of the school closure. I’m looking forward to making good on my intention to pay it forward when I come back as a volunteer. 

Addendum: We learned after this interview that Kerri is an incredible baker and she is making individual graduation cakes (yes, a whole cake!) for all of the 8th graders.

Who Feeds Our Kids: Jill Harnish

Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!

Jill Harnish

Jill Harnish has worked in school food service in our community for the past 11 years. She worked at Putney Central for her first 5 years, and now she’s in her 6th year working in Brattleboro, currently at Oak Grove School. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work and how things have changed for her this spring. Here are some highlights from that conversation:

Shelia Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?

“Please help out by volunteering when you can. We couldn’t do this without the volunteers, it would be too much. Volunteers are a big help to us!
”

— Jill Harnish

Jill Harnish (JH): My work is completely different. Instead of my usual routine of making food in the kitchen at Oak Grove for a smaller number of kids and focusing on preparing the hot lunch of the day, now I’m making A LOT of lunches and dinners. It’s a little like doing a bag lunch day for a class field trip, but on a much larger scale. Also, my workplace has changed. Now I’m working in the Academy School kitchen, which is actually closer to my house. Another big change is that I don’t see students during my workday anymore.

SH: What is keeping you going during these unusual times?

JH: What’s keeping me going is knowing that I’m making meals for the kids who might not otherwise have food and keeping myself busy with my work.

SH: Do you have children at home, and if so, how are you managing with childcare?

JH: It’s hard because my youngest is a senior this year and he’s in special education. He’s got homework to do, so when I leave work I have to go home and help him with his homework because he won’t do it when I’m not there.

SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?

JH: Working more hours than I’m used to has been my biggest challenge. I’m working 1.5-2 hours longer each day and I’m also getting up earlier. Trying to juggle work and responsibilities at home is a little difficult.

SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?

JH: Please help out by volunteering when you can. We couldn’t do this without the volunteers, it would be too much. Volunteers are a big help to us!

SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in school food service?

JH: It’s a rewarding job. It’s a nice feeling to feed the children and to get to see them everyday. It’s hard not to see them now. It’s good hours for being a working parent.

SH: What brings you joy?

JH: My kids. Also, my husband and I belong to a church and we cook a meal for the overflow shelter every month. I like feeding people.

SH: What are you grateful for?

JH: I’m grateful that I have my job and I’m grateful for my health.

SH: Final thoughts?

JH: My work is challenging but rewarding!

Food Connects and Fresh Picks Cafe to Present at National Conference

Sheila Humphreys, Food Connects’ Farm to School Coordinator, and Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe and the Brattleboro Town Schools’ Food Service Director, will present at the 10th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference. The conference will take place from April 21 to 23 in Albuquerque, NM.

The National Farm to Cafeteria Conference is a biennial event hosted by the National Farm to School Network. The conference convenes stakeholders throughout Farm to School to “source local food for institutional cafeterias and foster a culture of healthy food and agricultural literacy across America.”  

Sheila presenting at a recent Trauma & Nutrition training for local schools, hosted by Food Connects.

Sheila and Ali will present on the work they’ve done to incorporate a trauma-sensitive lens into Farm to School programming. With an increased awareness of the importance of trauma-informative practices in schools, teachers and staff are discovering the strong role food plays in the conversation. “Food and trauma are intertwined,” says Sheila. “Food can establish a strong sense of community but can also be a point of stress and anxiety, especially in an overwhelming cafeteria environment, and for students experiencing food insecurity at home.” 

Ali is an invaluable partner in this work and a Farm to School champion within the district and through statewide advocacy. She is instrumental in the implementation of new programs such as Share Coolers in the Brattleboro Town Schools, which allows students to share what they don’t eat, provides a quick and easy snack for others who may still be hungry, and reduces food waste. Through programs like these, and shifting the focus in the cafeteria to trauma-sensitive practices, Ali and Sheila work to reduce stigma around food, increase food access, and bring awareness to implicit biases. 

Food Connects’ intensive work on developing a trauma-informed approach to education in the Brattleboro Town Schools wouldn’t be possible without their partners within the district and a two-year grant awarded by the Thompson Trust. 

Lessons from Chef Dan Giusti

Last month our Farm to School team had the pleasure of attending the annual meeting of the School Nutrition Association of Vermont. The meeting was held in Colchester and attended by Child Nutrition Professionals from all over the state with the shared vision that “feeding all children is recognized as an integral part of education ensuring all children will learn, thrive, and succeed.”

Chef Dan Giusti speaking at the SNA annual meeting.

The keynote was given by Chef Dan Giusti, former head chef of the world-renowned restaurant Noma in Copenhagen and founder of Brigaid, a non-profit organization that is challenging the school food status quo by putting professional chefs into public schools to cook fresh, wholesome food from scratch.

Listening to Chef Dan speak about the challenges of bringing scratch cooking to schools in New London, CT and the Bronx was incredibly inspiring. After 4 years of working to transform school meals, he is incredibly humble and spoke with clear honesty about the challenges faced by Child Nutrition Professionals in school kitchens around our country, and the deep respect he has for this profession, which he says is way more difficult than working as a chef in a restaurant. In his words, being a Food Service Director is “an amazing career because it’s super challenging and it’s super complex...there is so much stuff to comprehend. When you are a chef in a restaurant, it’s super easy. The chefs who work for me now (in the schools) are really intelligent, they have great character, they are patient, they are smart… because they have to be! You have to be at a different level to handle all this, to manage all these different groups of people, to understand, to even be able to comprehend all this information. It’s super complicated.”

Harley Sterling, School Nutrition Director for the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, speaks at the SNA annual meeting.

Chef Dan has found that building relationships with the students is a key component to doing the job well. “Where we have found the most success by far is just talking to the kids, just sitting down. It’s all about the relationship, and it might have nothing to do with the food, but if they know that you have something to do with the food and they like you, that’s usually a good starting point.”

When you listen to the students, sometimes they say things that are hard to hear. “It’s a hard thing when you are taking orders from a 4 year old. And they are basically telling you this isn’t very good, and they’re right.”

Chef Dan has ambitious ideas for transforming school meals in our country, saying that, school meals “just need to be better. The kids deserve way better. Things can always be better.” He visited Burlington High School's cafeteria and was very impressed with the role that Vermont Food Service Directors are taking by improving the quality of the food in the meal program and sourcing as much local product as possible.

Bravo, Vermont!

Celebrating National School Breakfast Week with Senator Becca Balint

Food Connects celebrated National School Breakfast Week during the first week of March by inviting Vermont State Senator Becca Balint to join Food Connects’ Farm to School Team, Sheila Humphreys and Kate Venne, for breakfast with Allegra Carignan’s Kindergarten class at Green Street School.  

Humphreys and Venne met Senator Balint at the school at 8:00 am, just as students were finding their way into classrooms to join their classmates for breakfast. Green Street School serves Breakfast After the Bell in all classrooms, and breakfast participation at Green Street is the highest of all the schools in Windham County, with a whopping 89% of students participating!

As the special guests entered the classroom, they were greeted warmly by Ms. Carignan and her curious students. At Green Street School, breakfast is served in classrooms at the start of each day. The Food Connects team and Senator Becca Balint sat down to a meal of freshly baked blueberry muffins, cheese sticks, and fruit juice with a group of very sweet 5-year-olds.

Over breakfast, students reported that their favorite breakfast at school is bagels, except for the one student at the table who usually eats breakfast at home, and his favorite breakfast is Lucky Charms. Other commonly served breakfast items include hard-boiled eggs, fresh toast, cereal, and scrambled eggs. The students chatted about their pets while Ms. Carignan circulated around the room greeting everyone and collecting their lunch orders. As the group finished breakfast, they joined their classmates on the rug to participate in the morning meeting and sing a song to start their day.

After breakfast, Humphreys and Venne retired to the school library to talk with Senator Balint about the importance of school breakfast and other school meals. School breakfast, and particularly Breakfast After the Bell and Universal Meals, are a huge benefit to children in the Brattleboro community. When students are able to start their day with a nourishing breakfast that is available in the classroom to every student and doesn’t require a child to have to choose between eating breakfast at school in the morning or playing on the playground at the start of the day, more children eat breakfast which means improved behavior, improvements in school climate, more students who start the day ready to learn, and a reduction in nurse visits. In addition, Brattleboro Town Schools have Universal Meals, which is an enormous help to children in Brattleboro because it eliminates stigma and makes nourishing meals accessible to all students. Additionally, increased participation in school meal programs leads to increased financial viability, which ultimately results in improved food quality—commonly referred to as the Virtuous Cycle of School Meals!  

Have you eaten breakfast or lunch at a school lately? Food Connects and the Brattleboro Town Schools meal program encourages you to try it! In fact, Chef Ali West and Humphreys went to Montpelier a couple of weeks ago for School Nutrition Day at the State House and invited all of the legislators from WSESU to have breakfast or lunch in a school in their district. If you’d like to try a meal at a local school, just be sure to call ahead and let them know you’re coming!

Cafeterias Unknown: Academy School

Pictured: Jo Carol (left) and Ali West (right)

On Tuesdays, we each nachos. For lunch. With refried beans and zesty potato wedges. Top it off with a local apple and you’ve got yourself lunch at Academy School in Brattleboro!

A few weeks back, I went to lunch with Jo Carol Ratti, principal of the Dummerston School for the past 20 years, who was keen to see what’s cookin’ in Brattleboro. So, we joined food service director, Ali West, for lunch at Academy School.

You might wonder what fueled Jo Carol’s curiosity. In her final year at Dummerston, she has been part of a movement that’s beginning to take place. A group of passionate parents has come together to support the school in improving food quality and re-envisioning the school lunch menu. School meals are a complicated world of USDA regulations, tight budgets, and particular customers—so Jo Carol decided to visit Brattleboro for some inspiration.

The Brattleboro Town School District has improved food quality over the past 5 years by adopting a set of higher food standards and recruiting a stellar food service director to oversee their implementation. Simply put, Ali West is a Rockstar (with a capital R) and is fully committed to serving good food to her students each and every day. She sources a variety of locally grown products and works hard to ensure the district’s higher food standards are met each week.

Luckily, Ali was able to sneak out of the kitchen for a few minutes to eat lunch and share some wisdom with us. We joined a group of students at the “peanut free” table and set to polishing off our nachos and beans. Academy’s cafeteria is in a shared space with the gymnasium. Students flow through the kitchen to pick up the lunch they ordered earlier in the day and then head next door to grab fruit and a place to sit. Each day, Ali and her staff fill a big bowl with local apples for students to grab as a final addition to their lunch. The menu for Brattleboro Town Schools is similar to other Cafe Services schools, with a few twists. Ali offers local apples and yogurt each day, as well as vegetarian options for students. Her March menu features vegan “Neatballs” and a BBQ tofu sandwich, to replace items featuring animal proteins. The district has eliminated a variety of unhealthy ingredients, including things like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and food dyes.

Ali and her staff connect with Academy students during meal times and have found creative ways to increase participation in school meals. The lunch line is adorned with colorful VT Harvest of the Month posters as well as pictures featuring local farms. To top it all off, the kitchen door boasts its very own “farm to school” sign.

All in all, a fulfilling experience. Until next time Academy!