48 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • MARCH 1, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
Forward-thinking programs get kids to eat better
Th ey say that breakfast is the most
important meal of the day. But for millions
of low-income children across the
country, the low-cost or free lunch they
get at school is the most nutritious, most
fi lling meal they will eat.
In 2016, over 30 million kids across
the U.S. received low-cost or free lunches
at their school. With such a wide-ranging
impact, school meal programs play a
huge role in the well-being of our nation’s
young people.
According to Wilder Research, nearly
one in six children in the state of
Minnesota live in food-insecure households.
Many of these kids rely on school
lunch to get the nutrients they need. To
make sure these needs are met, one school
district in the state has been blending
nutrition with trends in popular culture
to create a dynamic program that is getting
kids excited about healthy food while
also creating better eating habits.
Jr. Iron Chef
Question: In an urban school district,
how can the idea behind a popular television
show be used to raise awareness of
healthy meal options?
In essence, this is what happened
when Miguel Lopez, a seventh-grader at
Anwatin Middle School, along with seven
other teams and 16 other students, competed
alongside eight professional chefs
in one of Minneapolis Public Schools’ “Jr.
Iron Chef” competitions.
Modeled aft er the popular television
show, where teams compete to create the
most appetizing dish, this three-year-old
program was designed in cooperation
with Cargill to teach students about good
nutrition and meal preparation. Students
from across the district were invited to
compete - just as popular celebrity chefs
on TV do - in live cooking competitions.
“Th is night was not so much about the
competition, but about what these students
have learned about how to prepare
good meals on their own,” said
Minneapolis Public Schools’ Director of
Culinary and Wellness Services, Bertrand
Weber. “We wanted to apply the Iron
Chef concept to help improve our students’
health and well-being. Yes, it was
a cool night, but the hope is that they will
go home and do this for themselves and
their families versus choosing less healthy
meal options.”
While the Jr. Iron Chef competition
was getting students all over the district
revved up, Cargill and Minneapolis
Public Schools were weaving another
popular culinary trend into the district’s
nutrition and wellness programs: food
trucks.
Nutrition on wheels
Parked outside the venue where Jr.
Iron Chef was held was a shiny, new food
truck purchased with a recent $75,000
grant from Cargill to Minneapolis Public
Schools. Th is is the school district’s second
food truck. Th e fi rst one hit the road
in 2013 and became so popular that it
quickly exceeded capacity.
Th e trucks are staff ed by the school
district’s nutrition and culinary staff , to
bring nutritious meals to students, especially
when school is not in session.
Th e trucks also appear at district-run
wellness seminars and cooking demonstrations.
“Th e value of these food trucks has been
recognized by Minneapolis Public Schools
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA),” said Cargill Vice President of
Corporate Responsibility Michelle Grogg.
“It’s been a successful strategy that community
and state partners have found to
improve their capacity to reach food-insecure
children when school is in and out
of session.”
In the summer of 2017, Minneapolis
Public Schools served approximately
400,000 free meals and snacks to
Minneapolis youth. Th is coming summer,
Minneapolis Public Schools’ two
food trucks will operate at a total of eight
summer feeding sites in conjunction with
community youth and physical activity
programming.
A new example
As school lunch plays such an important
role for millions of urban, low-income
students, the importance of steering
these kids toward eating more nutritious,
wholesome meals cannot be overstated.
Th ough it can be hard to get kids
excited about fruits and vegetables, the
creative and forward-thinking programs
put on by the Minneapolis Public Schools
point in a fun, and promising, direction.
“It’s great to see two popular trends
in food being applied to the nutritional
needs of our students,” says Grogg. “We
hope it doesn’t stop here and we hope
other communities around Minnesota
and the U.S. learn from our successes.”
Courtesy BPT