Changing the Future of School Food: Student Chefs in The Washington Post

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

Great news from Washington! Today, the healthy, tasty school meal designed by high school students from Richards Career Academy for HSC’s Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest was served in cafeterias around the nation and at a nearby briefing – where the students prepared the meal with White House chef Sam Kass.

The tasty meal kicks off a national campaign to change the future of school food and urge our Congressional leaders to support a strong, well-funded reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act that will make this type of healthy lunch a daily reality in our nation’s schools.

Jane Black wrote a great piece for the Washington Post about the student chefs, today’s event, and the campaign to get more money for better food in our nation’s school cafeterias. Explaining that HSC is “bringing good food and cute kids to Washington,” Black writes that:

Today six culinary students from the Richards Career Academy in Chicago will join White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass at Martha's Table, where they will cook their idea of a perfect school lunch. On the menu: carrot quesadillas, chicken-stuffed peppers and a "refrescante" (a.k.a. salsa) salad. The meal also will be served to House members and staffers at the Longworth Cafeteria and to 40,000 students at schools across the country. . . .

The message: Schools need more money to produce healthful meals.

President Obama has made healthful eating in schools a centerpiece of his domestic agenda. In his budget, he called for $1 billion to improve childhood nutrition programs.

Will Congress fork over the funds? That will ultimately be up to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee. The kids better hope he likes carrot quesadillas.

Click here to check out the full post and leave a comment congratulating the talented student chefs!

We'll post photos and video from the event as they're available -- for now, we have one small (and, sorry, slightly blurry) cell phone photo that a friend sent of the students cooking with Sam Kass while HSC's Rochelle Davis speaks.

Comments

[me]

i go to richards and i study culinary arts too but i'm a sophomore

[MARQUICE]

WE DID A GREAT JOB THIS YEAR AND I'M MARQUICE KENT A PART OF THE TEAM