GIDEON PUTNAM CHEF, SARATOGA SPRINGS CITY SCHOOLS PARTNERING TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH GOOD FOOD THAT'S GOOD FOR THEM - November 21, 2010
Ann Marie French
Saratogian.com
November 21, 2010
The Saratoga Springs City School District lunch staff has been working for years to create a healthy menu for their school cafeterias. To that end, they have made a number of noticeable changes, including getting rid of fried foods, offering salad with every meal and using local produce.
Now the district has joined the “Chefs Move to Schools” national initiative. Margaret Sullivan, the school district’s school lunch director, said when the district heard about the initiative started by first lady Michelle Obama, they signed up. Several local chefs heard about it and signed up, too.
The “Chefs Move to Schools” program is run through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The program pairs chefs with interested schools in their communities so together they can create healthy meals that meet the schools’ dietary guidelines and budgets while teaching young people about nutrition and making balanced and healthy choices.
Sullivan opted to work with the executive chef from Gideon Putnam Resort, Brian Sterner.
The partnership began with Sterner conducting a cooking demonstration with the district’s entire food service staff on Nov. 5. He made a hummus dip with applesauce and chick peas and a black bean salad. Both recipes included the use of beans because Sullivan identified beans as the focus of this first effort.
“Beans are a great source of protein and fiber. They are overlooked in our modern society,” Sullivan said. “We want to show students how delicious they are.”
Sullivan said her staff loved the dishes he made during the demonstration.
The true test of the collaboration began Friday, when the Greenfield Elementary School food staff made the black bean salad and gave it to every student to taste during their lunch period. Sterner showed up for the lunch periods, walking around the cafeteria and offering up samples.
“It’s going remarkably well,” Sterner said about halfway through lunch. “Many are hesitant to try it, but once they realize their friends are trying it, they come around.”
At that time, Sterner had handed out more than 200 samples. Anyone who asked for seconds — or thirds — was provided more to taste.
Sterner said his reasons for signing up for the program started at home.
“I have two kids in Geyser Road (Elementary School),” he said. “Being a parent and a chef, I feel I have an obligation to keep my kids healthy. Why should it stop there?”
Sullivan said having someone from the outside come in to talk with the students or offer them samples tends to get the kids more interested and makes them more willing to try it.
The second-graders at one table talked over one another, trying to describe how they felt about the black bean salad. In fact, the only students who did not have anything to say were those who did not try it.
“It was really good,” Katy Hawthorne said, adding that she likes to try new foods. She said she would eat it at home if her parents made it.
Emi Grady-Willis said she wanted to try the black bean salad.
“It wasn’t exactly something I’d eat every day, but I’d eat it again,” she said.
Their friend, Dean Dennison, had finished two samples of the black bean salad, eating every last bean and corn kernel in his cup.
“We have been telling the kids to not separate the beans and the corn. They should eat them together,” Sterner said. “Most are realizing the taste of the beans isn’t that different from the corn.”
Dennison, who was receiving his third helping of the bean salad, said he would be asking for it at home and that he certainly thinks it should appear on the school menu regularly.
“People should try it,” he said.
Sterner said the same recipe is available periodically at the Gideon Putnam. While he always includes a bean dish in the Sunday brunch menu, the options change depending on the season.
Sterner, who oversees all culinary operations at Gideon Putnam Resort, serves thousands of guests there annually. He has been with the resort’s parent company, Delaware North Co., since 2005. The subject of healthy eating and bringing tasty and nutritious options to young people was a major topic of conversation at a recent conference held for Delaware North employees.
Sterner will make similar appearances at each of the district’s schools. Some will receive the black bean salad, while others will sample different bean recipes. Either way, both Sullivan and Sterner are sure this is just the first time they will collaborate.
“As a chef I am committed, (and) the Gideon Putnam and Delaware North are very committed as a whole to this,” Sterner said.
