Student, farmer team to bring ‘Good Food’ to school.
By: Lea Kahn
Tomato soup with kale and cheese tortellini, vegetarian lasagna and pita chips with hummus are not exactly at the top of the list on a typical teenager’s lunch menu.
But in fact, several hundred Lawrence High School students patiently stood in line at the high school cafeteria to sample those vegetarian dishes at lunchtime two weeks ago.
The students were taking part in the Good Food education program funded by the Lawrence Township Education Foundation with a goal of educating high school students and staff about food choices.
The change in the menu lasted just one day, but there is a possibility that it could be repeated later in the year, said Mikey Azzara of Cherry Grove Organic Farm and Marybeth DiLorenzo, the school district’s food service director.
The Good Food education program seeks to improve the quality of the food in the school cafeteria, according to the grant proposal.
Quality means several things what food or ingredients the district purchases, and how the food is prepared, cooked and served. It also means where the food was purchased, plus where and how was it grown or raised.
The Good Food education program grew out of a collaboration between Mr. Azzara and LHS senior Emily Suzuki.
Mr. Azzara is a 1998 LHS graduate who now works at the organic farm, located off Carter Road.
"We want the students to start thinking about having a more diverse diet," Mr. Azzara said. "It’s an important realization for students that ‘vegetarian’ doesn’t mean only vegetables. We are promoting responsible decisions about food how it is grown and where it comes from."
Emily, who is a vegan, first suggested providing options for vegans and vegetarians in the high school cafeteria to LHS Principal Donald Proffit last year.
Vegetarians and vegans avoid meat but they part company on dairy products. Vegetarians eat dairy products, but vegans do not because it comes from animals.
At about the same time, Mr. Azzara approached Mr. Proffit to discuss including fresh produce possibly organic produce in the high school kitchen. Mr. Proffit introduced Mr. Azzara and Emily, and they decided to merge their ideas.
"Emily and I have come together under the umbrella of good food and food education," Mr. Azzara said. "We want to promote an awareness of food and expose (the students) to different food ideas and choices what is good to put in our bodies and the implications of how that food is raised."
Together, Emily and Mr. Azzara put together a grant application proposing the Good Food education series, which they submitted to the LTEF. It was approved, and they were given $730 to carry it out.
With that money, they arranged for chef Kristen Schwab from Organic Planet of Philadelphia to prepare a vegan meal for a group of students in the morning. The students sampled the offerings, which included multigrain pancakes and sweet vegetable butter, Mr. Azzara said. Fresh organic produce was used.
"The reaction was mixed, as expected," Mr. Azzara said.
Emily spoke to the students about vegans and the reasons behind it. Vegans are concerned about animal rights, for example. Emily said she became a vegan when she learned about factory farming, in which animals are raised to be slaughtered under less-than-ideal conditions.
Mr. Azzara said that when it was his turn to speak, he explained the concept of organic farming. It is a technique to agriculture that does not rely on man-made fertilizers. Rather, it is a natural approach to farming.
He told the students that all of the produce used that morning came from Cherry Grove Organic Farm.
Meanwhile, it was also agreed that at lunchtime, the high school cafeteria would eliminate the hot lunch offerings hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken nuggets in favor of vegetarian dishes for the day. The deli line remained in place for students who did not care to try the vegetarian selections.
Emily and Mr. Azzara who was dressed in a cow costume also offered small cups of vanilla or chocolate soy milk to students in the cafeteria. Several hundred students tried the soy milk. It is an alternative to milk for people who are allergic to it or vegans who don’t want to drink it for ethical reasons, they said.
While typical school cafeteria fare does not lean toward vegan or vegetarian offerings, the kitchen staff at LHS jumped at the chance to try something different, said Ms. DiLorenzo.
After some thought, it was decided to prepare tomato soup with kale and cheese tortellini, vegetable lasagna, grilled cheddar cheese and tomato sandwiches, pita chips and hummus, and vegetarian pizza offerings in lieu of chicken nuggets, hot dogs and hamburgers, Ms. DiLorenzo said.
"We tried to choose things that the students would like," she said. "Our job here is to make the students happy. That’s the reason we left the deli bar. The vegetarian pizza went over well. (Emily and Mr. Azzara) did a good thing they introduced new food into the students’ lives."
Ms. DiLorenzo estimated that of the 750 to 1,000 students who ate lunch that day, about 50 percent opted to try the vegetarian fare. On an average day, about 60 percent of the students head for the deli bar and 40 percent choose the hot lunch offerings, she said.
"It wasn’t hard (to prepare vegetarian food) it was just different," agreed Linda Dlabik, the kitchen manager. "A lot of the students ate the food for Emily. They said, ‘Tell me what I am eating, what are my choices.’"
Emily and Mr. Azzara said the objective of the Good Food education program is not to completely remake the cafeteria into one that serves vegetarian or vegan fare, but rather to have that option on the side.
"We are basically planting a seed in their minds," Mr. Azzara said.