by Georgia Charter Schools Association
[Editor’s note: An Atlanta public charter school, , decided to meet federal nutrition standards by聽supporting a 鈥渇arm to school鈥� lunch program that would not only聽“nourish students聽minds and bodies so that they might聽do their best work,” but would聽model healthy聽food choices. The school hired professional chef David Bradley, an ANCS parent, to oversee the program and saw a nearly 30% increase in the number of meals served this year!聽The lunch program聽was聽featured in聽a in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.聽Here Chef Bradley shares what he’s learned about cooking for kids.]聽
By David Bradley
I鈥檓 seven months in to my first school year as chef and nutrition director at Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School (ANCS).
When a friend mentioned that ANCS was looking for a chef for a farm to school program, I was intrigued. Perhaps all of the study and work I鈥檇 done was preparing me not for a career in restaurants but rather for working in schools. I decided to try to establish a program that supports locally grown meat and produce and connects the dots on the food chain. I was attracted to the potential of influencing the taste and choices of my children and their peers, and hopefully many more beyond ANCS, by exposing them to delicious, nutritious food and helping them see where it comes from. I hope that our students will appreciate food as a central part of their life, not merely a convenience or commodity.
I鈥檓 trying to share my interest and knowledge of good eating with them, to introduce them to ingredients, preparations or cuisines they may not have tried before. I hope to have students growing some of the food we serve in gardens on campus, and to have students in the kitchen preparing food and serving each other. Being proud of their work and having results that are appreciated by the whole school community will help guide students鈥� food choices beyond what they eat for school lunch. I also hope that the kitchen can enrich their studies by developing curriculum on the cultural and historical influences on cuisine, the science of cooking, math skills for the kitchen, and the health implications of nutritional choices.
Our program is still getting off the ground, but the response has been very positive and our students, parents and teachers are all enthusiastic about having a well-made, fresh and nutritious meal program. We鈥檝e supported a handful of local farms and purveyors, and I鈥檓 always looking for more opportunities to incorporate GA grown meat and produce. We bought a whole, fresh, pastured lamb from Gum Creek Farms for our shepherd鈥檚 pie in October. We featured produce from the wonderful for vegetable plates in September and October.
Being the chef at an elementary and middle school has not been without its challenges as well. . We鈥檝e had to put the new meal pattern into practice and make changes on the fly to ensure that our almost entirely from-scratch food is compliant. Of course there are also big differences between feeding a relatively sophisticated midtown Atlanta clientele and kindergarten and first graders. While I knew that I wouldn鈥檛 be serving any more grilled octopus, curing my own trout roe for caviar, or finishing scallop crudo with lemon oil and sugar snap pea jus, getting myself to really think about food like a grade school student has sometimes been a challenge. I have a daughter in kindergarten at ANCS, and cooking for her at home has certainly helped, but dishes that I thought would be a hit were anything but. On our first farmer鈥檚 market veg plate, I had purchased some beautiful tomatoes and watermelons. I decided to make a very simple salad with the two of them and shaved parmesan cheese. I reckoned that everyone loves watermelon, and while this is true, my students weren鈥檛 interested in trying this combination.
Our menu continues to evolve, and is a mix of the most familiar dishes and items that are new to some. We now have enthusiasts of quinoa, plantains, pozole verde, and vietnamese basil rolls, among others. Getting to know the students both in the lunch line and in the classroom has been for me the most rewarding part of the transition so far. Even though I had many regular guests in restaurants I had worked in in years prior, I wasn鈥檛 feeding the same group five days a week and I was rarely privileged to such unfiltered feedback on what I was cooking. On balance it鈥檚 been a very warm reception, with students and faculty alike asking me for recipes and I get my share of high fives in the hallways.
David Bradley is聽Chef and Nutrition Director at Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School. He holds a B.A.聽in Computer Science from Emory University and聽has worked in restaurants for nearly聽a decade. From 2006-2012, he was the Chef de Cuisine at Ecco. From 2012-2014, he was the Executive Chef at Lure. 聽
The views and opinions expressed on CharterConfidential聽are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency.
Georgia Charter Schools Association
The Georgia Charter Schools Association (91桃色视频) is the membership organization for Georgia鈥檚 charter school operators and petitioners, established in 2001. Our mission is to be an effective advocate and service provider for all charter public schools in Georgia.
