Recipe for Success

Georgia Southern Program Changes School Lunches

Making sure one child eats healthy can be tough. So, imagine being responsible for the nutrition of thousands of kids every day. That’s a reality for school nutrition managers, who plan meals and oversee operations in Georgia’s public school cafeterias. But, when school starts in the fall, many of those professionals will be armed with improved recipes and updated information, thanks to a program held at Georgia Southern University this summer.

“Broccoli in the trash has no nutritional value,” remarked Georgia Southern assistant professor Lawrence Stalcup, Ph.D. Stalcup says he’s not sure where he first heard that line, but says it sums up why it’s so important to make sure school lunches are top-quality. Learning how to make sure a meal looks and tastes good, while cutting the fat, salt and sugar from recipes, is the reason dozens of school nutrition managers from around the state spent a week on the Georgia Southern campus earlier this summer.

Stalcup and University instructor Rebecca Larson spent time in the kitchen and in the classroom to teach those in charge of school cafeterias the information they need to make meals as healthy as possible. Stalcup, who has been involved with the program for 11 years, said thousands of Georgia children eat breakfast and lunch at school every day.

“The potential impact is enormous,” explained Stalcup. “A high percentage of students who eat these meals are being subsidized, so they are the neediest.”

Stalcup and Larson conducted two separate one-week sessions where school nutrition managers learned how to modify many of the recipes they already serve. Working in the kitchen alongside the chef from the Forest Heights Country Club, managers substituted ingredients and learned new techniques to add flavor to their meals while reducing the salt, sugar and fat content.

In the classroom, managers received updates on nutritional guidelines.

“There have been many changes to the nutritional guidelines in recent years,” said Stalcup. “We worked to educate them on those changes, and to help them work on special health needs. For example, how do you deal with students who have food allergies?”

Stalcup says each year the school nutrition managers leave Georgia Southern eager to try what they’ve learned in their own kitchens, and eager to show the children they feed each day how good healthy eating can taste.

—Betsy Nolen