Really cool story from the Savage newspaper about how they are changing school food in their school distrcit.
By Keighla Schmidt, Staff Writer
Savage Pacer
December 21, 2009
At a time when popular cafeteria items are usually empty-caloric pizza or brownies, students at Hidden Valley Elementary School are eating healthier hot dogs.
“I think it’s a good thing, it’s healthier and better for you,” said Kira Madsen.
The local, grass-fed beef hot dogs are part of a plan to get kids to make healthier choices said Roxanne Williams, Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District’s director of food services.
The healthier choices are showing up in school cafeteria lines with help of the Dakota county-wide program called Smart Choices which combines money from a Blue Cross Blue Shield grant and the Statewide Health Improvement Program, or SHIP.
“The idea is to expose them to more things, to get them to try things and start liking and eating them,” Williams said.
Before the new lunch option was served this week, fourth-graders at Hidden
Valley all got a lesson on the characteristics of fresh, local food.
“They said it was better to have food that’s from around here and that it would still taste good,” said Savage resident Makira Sy, 9.
Growing 9-year-old boys Jacob Nistler and Jackson Thellin, from Savage, said they usually like to dig into the school’s pizza, popcorn chicken and Italian dunkers, but the hot dogs were good, too. They said they would eat the hot dogs again, even though they’re not their favorite.
“It’s good that it’s local,” Thellin said. “If it had to come a long way then it would get older and lose its taste.”
Sy and Madsen said they look forward to lunch when there’s macaroni and cheese or chicken nuggets on the menu, but liked the hot dogs.
Madsen said she thought the grass-fed dogs were a little spicier, but she liked them.
“They have a little thicker casing,” said Kitchen Manager Debra Jackson. “But otherwise they’re not really different. The kids seem to like them.”
Williams said the taste was a little different from the other all-beef hot dogs typically served in the cafeterias, but “the idea is to expose them to more choices.”
Students will also get to try corn and black bean salsa. “It’s about having them try something they might not get at home,” Williams said.
“You never know if the new things are going to be good or not,” Madsen said. “But it’s good to try.”
Williams said the money from Smart Choices will also pay for what she called a “sampling table,” of the salsa, but not enough for a serving for every student in each school. The grant aims to make long-term and sustainable changes in eating habits.
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