Menu For Healthy Kids

Culinary in the Classroom

With childhood nutrition at the forefront of our nation’s attention, there has been a lot of talk trying to determine exactly what is responsible for this obesity epidemic.  Is it what happens at school or what happens at home?  Is it the direct result of your family's socio-economic status and the ways your status can affect access to positive lifestyle choices? Or is it the direct outcome of our sedentary lifestyles and the insidious convenience of unhealthy foods?  In all honesty, a combination of all these factors has slowly redefined our a culture sto that, at this point, obesity has become the norm.  So, instead of trying to pin blame somehere else, let's all start claiming our part of the problem as well as our part of the solution.

Family life is an obvious place to start because of the personal investment we make in our children.  Parents have the important work of laying the groundwork for developing life-long healthy habits, starting at birth and throughout their youth. A solid foundation sets the stage for success at healthy living when they become adults.  Schools are the next arenas where we can effect change by not only teaching about concepts, but also by encouraging pecific actions and efforts to get active, stay fit, and develop healthy eating habits. Thanks to Michelle Obama, more attention has been turned towards the food students consume while at school, both in and out of the cafeterias, than ever before. 

Can we find more opportunities to teach our children these important lessons?  The answer lies within in the question; we have to teach them. The classroom environment is an obvious place to teach students how andy why a healthy diet matters; it is where they are already learning the other essential subjects that will assist in their future successes.  We teach them to read, write, add and subtract.  We show them how things work and encourage them to ask "Why?"  So why can’t we also educate them about food and healthier lives?  Now I know there are classes specifically aimed towards addressing these subject, but to really make a change, we need to integrate foods and food choicesacross the curriculum. Wouldn’t it make sense to include it as we guide our children through their daily academics and lessons? 

Integrating food into common school subjects may be easier than you think.  With a little modification, simple lessons can become unexpected vehicles for opening up dialogue about healthy lifestyles and choices. Beyond the obvious applications of reading about nutrition, other common subjects lend themselves to the subject.  Creative writing can be a way to discuss favorite afterschool snacks or even celebrate student's cultural diversity. Science and food go hand and hand.  Students can explore the Chemistry of Cooking, think about how food moves through the body, or use veggies to explore the principles of physics.  The social studies can easily include food knowledge:  Where does food come from? What foods did our presidents eat? and more. There are thousands of lesson plans available online for free just waiting to be shared in the classroom.

Sometimes it only takes a little spark  to ignite children’s curiosity about foods, healthy diets, and nutrition.  Getting children to think about their diets is half the battle . So let’s come together as parents, teachers, food service directors, and school administrators to ending this nationwide predicament.  In the end, isn’t that what we are all working toward?

Back to School with the New Guidelines

Our extern, Christina Salkowski, has reported to us from the front lines, actually the lunch lines, in Hyde Park and Pawling about how the new guidelines are being received. You've probably already seen the video produced by some school kids in Kansas, "We Are Hungry." That probably sums up the way many school kids in our area feel about lunch. High school students look at 2-ounce portions of protein and ask "Where's the beef?" Parents wonder if they should be packing supplemental lunches and snacks to get their students through the day, especially if their children happen to participate in sports or club activities after school.

So, are kids in Kansas right? Are we dooming our children to energy slumps from fifth to ninth period and eliminating any chance of seeing the volleyball team make it to state championships? The fact is that hungry students can supplement their lunches with additional servings of fruits, vegetables, and milk. And the protein portion? Is 2 ounces really enough for teenagers? Yes, it is, according to Kevin Concannon, Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, and a host of other nutrition and wellness experts.

But, what have these changes had on the foodservice workers across the country? The first day of school found many lunch ladies scrambling to find the right serving utensils to be sure they were adhering to the guidelines. Christina tells us that there have been some interesting, perhaps unintended, consequences of the new serving sizes, as well. Since manufacturers are still selling larger burgers and meatballs, some schools are making the switch to scratch cooking more rapidly than they might have otherwise, which may mean that students get fresher, tastier, and healthier options at lunch. The bigger challenge may be finding ways to encourage students to eat more fruits and vegetables. These are the food prejudices that take time to overcome.

Healthy eating may start at home, but it doesn't end there. If parents encourage their children to practice better habits by offering fresh fruits and vegetables at meals and for snacks, it won't seem such a stretch. If teachers include food as part of whatever they teach, whether it is history, math, ethics, or science, it won't seem so foreign and weird. If school administrators support and encourage not only their teachers and students, but also the foodservice department, lunch won't seem so "separate" from the rest of the school day. If everyone gets on board, it is likely that students will adjust to smaller portions of protein after some time passes, and that they will start eating the extra fruits and vegetables on the tray instead of feeding them to the garbage cans.

Creating a healthier environment at school that honors the age-old precept mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a healthy body) probably means a number of changes that might take some getting used to, whether you are a parent, a school administrator, a foodserivce director, a teacher, or a student. But these are the lessons that will last throughout a healthy lifetime.

Family Fun Fitness Night

Friday night, June 1, Menus for Healthy Kids was invited to participate in Hyde Park School District’s North Park Elementary “Family Fun Fitness Night." Parents and students are invited back on campus from 6:30 to 8:30 for activities centered on healthful practices. There were five stations that families rotated through. Four were centered on physical activities and wellness topics. Families were asked to do exercises, take part in races, and record their pulse rates. The fifth was devoted to the Menu for Healthy Kids program.  Our mission was to offer instruction on the preparation of a healthy snack. Once the families had visited all five of the stations, they returned to the cafeteria to partake sample the healthy offering they had just seen being made.

Christina, our newest culinary extern, was there to help me with the presentation. We had decided on a demo instead of a hands-on experience, since there would be lots of families cycling through. We thought it best to have our hands the only ones involved. That way we could maintain a certain level of hygiene without families wondering whose hands had just been touching their food. 

Our snack was a cold Asian Noodle Salad made with whole wheat pasta. Christina demonstrated easy ways to cut some of the more difficult veggies. She turned carrots into match sticks, showed how to easily remove the seed pod from peppers, and dispatched a monstrous head of cabbage into wedges that were then easy to shred. In addition to carrots, peppers, and cabbage, we also had peas, corn, red onions, and fresh broccoli to toss together with the pasta. 

Next, we made a creamy sauce to dress the salad.  Our original recipe called for peanut butter but with peanut allergies at schools such a serious concern, I showed off a little substitution trick. Instead of peanut butter, we used canned white beans (rinsed to control sodium intake) and pureed them along with orange juice, soy sauce (reduced-sodium) sesame oil, garlic, and ginger. The beans provided the creaminess we would have gotten from the peanut butter and at the same time, it added additional protein and fiber to the dish.

All in all, it was a great evening of a district coming together and encouraging healthful habits in their youth. I commend Hyde Park for reaching out to their parents and sharing with them the importance of healthy lifestyles. Not only does it set a great example for the parents, it allows the parents to be shining examples for their children. At the end of the evening, while the entire group sat together to enjoy their healthy snack, there was a tremendous sense of community. Families chatted, children ran around playing tag, and the room filled with a happy-sounding din. In a fast-paced, technology-filled world, this expereience brought me back to when I was a child. Things were much simpler and communities came together often. It was a very comforting feeling, and I look forward to the next opportunity to participate in my community.

Christina helping to deliver cups of asian salad to parents and students

Hyde Park School District Health Fair

This past week, I was asked to participate in a health fair held at Hyde Park High School. The two-day fair brought community leaders to the school where they gave presentations on food, fitness, and general well-being. Some of the highlights I saw included karate demonstrations and Zumba classes. State police educated students on the dangers of alcohol consumption by having them wear “beer goggles” that distorted their vision and made normal motor skills difficult. There were CPR dummies, corn-shucking demos, and yoga as part of the fair -- but I was there for the food.

The foodservice department for the district was on hand to highlight their best practices related to healthier choices for school foods. They had booths featuring their breakfast program, a display of fresh produce offered as healthy salad bar options, and even healthier versions of packaged snack choices including baked chips and reduced-fat Doritos.  

My job was to create an action station that served healthy hot lunch samples. Since it is extremely important to me that our efforts are rooted in reality, I wanted to use ingredients that could already be found in their school cafeteria kitchens. Ultimately, I decided on a healthy stirfy.

The ingredients were surprisingly simple -- pre-cooked chicken strips that schools use for fajitas and a frozen vegetable medley supplemented with sliced fresh zucchini. As it turns out, zucchini was Hyde Park school district's "Vegetable of the Month."  I made a simple stirfry sauce with a 3:1 ratio of orange juice to soy sauce. It was seasoned with garlic powder and thickened with a little cornstarch. The stirfy was a bountiful serving of vegetables along with a serving of chicken. The orange juice in the sauce gave everything a bright, fresh flavor as well as some additional vitamins while it also helped reduce the sodium levels from that of a typical stirfry sauce.

Did the students like it? No. They loved it!  While I never like denying food to hungry people, I realized that I had only a limited quantity of ingredients to feed the great number of mouths -- over 1400 -- that were lining up for a sample. I wound up telling the kids, “I give out seconds, but not thirds.” 

The students really liked the taste and look of the dish, but what impressed them the most was the fact that I sourced all of the ingredients from their very own cafeteria.  They were amazed that such great tasting food could be created from ingredients that are already in the school. It was just a matter of putting them together with three things in mind: flavor, nutrition, and eye appeal. 

We wanted to get some honest reactions from the students, so I asked them to fill out a comment card. Then, our Menus for Healthy Kids team selected 5 cards at random so we could award the winners with a copy of The Culinary Institute of America's Healthy Cooking at Home. There's lots of great information and recipes in there, so I hope the winners are making use of it!

 

The Culinary Institute of America's Healthy Cooking at Home

It is my hope that this experience encouraged Hyde Park students to participate in their school lunch program. And, as my relationship with Hyde Park schools and my involvement with their lunch program strengthens, I hope we keep building on the sense of pride they should take in the steps their district is already taking to create healthier and more appealing options.

All in all, the event was a complete success. What a great way for a district to put health and wellness front and center for the students and show how not only the school but entities outside the school are working hard to build a community that supports our children. 

After all, that is what it’s really going to take. We all have a responsibility to our children. We all have to work collectively. The challenges we face demand that kind of collaborative response. Taking action, instead of pointing fingers, will help us all to work together and to support each others' efforts. It is only by standing united that can we hope to gain any ground in the fight against childhood obesity.

 

This recipe is an adaptation of the recipe I prepared at Hyde Park. It is an easy, fresh-tasting, quick dinner for a weekday evening that I like to make for my family.

Orange Garlic Stirfry

Serves 2 or 3

3/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp cornstarch

2 tbsp canola oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp minced or grated ginger

1 boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced thin

2 cups broccoli florets

1 cup shredded Napa cabbage

1 cup julienned carrots

One 8-oz can diced pineapple, drained

1. Mix the orange juice, soy sauce, and cornstarch together in a small bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
2. In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil over high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Add the chicken and stirfry until the chicken is no longer pink, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the broccoli, cabbage, and carrots to the wok and stirfry until the vegetables are very hot and tender-crisp  and the chicken is fully cooked, about 4 minutes.
5. Stir the orange juice and soy mixture to blend the cornstarch into the sauce (the cornstarch settles a little as the sauce sits). Add this sauce to the wok along with the pineapple. Continue to stirfry long enough for the sauce to thicken, about 2 minutes.

Welcome to my Blog!

Hi. My name is Rico Griffone. I am a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America (2006), a professional chef, and a father. I have always had a vested interest in how my son perceives and interprets the foods that we provide for him. As a family, it is our goal to offer him nutritious foods, introduce new and unusual ingredients, and explain the importance of why we eat the foods we do. He has been very amenable to this practice since we started it when he was very young.  Not only do I feel good about what we feed him, but also about his understanding the why’s and how’s behind those choices.  As he approaches the age to start school, my wife and I have discussed how that next stage might affect his mealtimes. Of course, I proudly asserted that I’d be the one creating lunches for him every day. Nevertheless, this discussion brought us to the subject of school meals and the choices that families must make – choices that go beyond the decision to buy school lunch versus packing a lunch, but also how families think about food and healthy choices within their homes.  In 2009, I was lucky to become professionally involved in exploring these choices and trying to make sense of how families and school districts reach decisions when it comes to their children’s health and wellness. 

I now work as a consultant for The Culinary Institute of America’s “Menu for Healthy Kids” program, one of the CIA’s initiatives that support the college’s commitment to advancing healthier food choices. As our specific aim, Menus for Healthy Kids has been working toward reducing childhood obesity and the incidence of Type II diabetes.

For the past three years, we have been working with school districts in Dutchess County, New York, to promote healthier habits for our children. This includes not only school lunches, which have made significant strides toward improving their nutritional standards, but also the choices kids (and their parents and guardians) make at home, at the market, and when they go out to eat.

It is only natural that the CIA would concentrate on promoting fresh, flavorful, healthful choices when shopping or cooking; food is, after all, our primary focus as college. In fact, the college’s slogan is this: Food is Life. It is true for all of us, whether we are culinary professionals, parents, or kids.

But, we recognize that making better, more healthful choices is only one piece of the puzzle. Activity plays a key role in improving the health and well-being of our youth. A practical education focused on food ingredients--what they are, how they are produced, how they can benefit (or harm) us--and the basics of good cooking is a priority if new, healthy habits are to last through a lifetime. We know that a successful approach will have to integrate all of these components.

I have begun this blog to showcase the important issues and opportunities related to securing a healthier future for our children. I’ll be writing about current news stories that focus on the foods served and marketed to our children in schools and restaurants, as well as at home. I’ll take a closer look at government policies that regulate what we consume and the messages that we are being sent about health, nutrition, and physical activity. I’ll share information about the programs and activities that we are participating in, whether a guest chef visit to a local school or a booth at a wellness expo. I will highlight the school systems, restaurants, and food manufacturers that are doing their part to promote natural and healthful practices. From time to time, I will have guest bloggers to enlighten us on topics within their areas of expertise.

After visiting several schools throughout the county and speaking with foodservice directors, school administrators, students, parents, and teachers, I’ve learned one thing with crystal clarity: There are no simple solutions and there is no silver bullet that will work in every school or in every situation. In practical terms, that means we need to develop multiple strategies that take aim at a variety of contributing factors if we want to see meaningful, sustainable changes to the rising tide of obesity and diabetes in this country and around the world.

I’ve also learned that there is no point in waiting for that simple solution. We need to start now. If we work consistently and cooperatively, as part of a community, we can come together to make positive changes to the health and well-being of our children. Building healthy habits and behaviors now makes it far more likely that those same habits and behaviors will follow our children into adulthood.

Please join me as I explore the topics that surround the issue of childhood obesity prevention. I look forward to hearing from you. Your comments and feedback are an important component and will turn this from a one-way rant into a lively dialog about ways that we can work together to turn around this national predicament. The more discussion we generate, the wider our perspective will be when it comes to finding ways that we can best serve our youth.