Yesterday, I attended my first food show since I began working for my school. Held by a major food supplier to showcase their food products, it had booth after booth of food for all walks of the food service industry from restaurants to schools.
I’m very grateful the show did not focus on items for schools. One of the first booths I stopped by focused on just that. The school “specialist” welcomed me to try a bag of corn chips and said that an easy way to serve them is to snip off the top of the bag and fill it with chili and shredded cheese. I passed on a sample of that and the rest of the other deep fried snacks.
Overwhelmed by all the booths and foods around me, I almost didn’t stop at one featuring canned tomatoes products. I’m glad I did. The booth had samples of tomato sauces made without corn syrup and free of artificial preservative - just what I’ve been looking for. Not only does it taste good, it's within my school’s budget. I plan to switch to this brand as soon as we run out of product in my school kitchen.
How awesome that some more wholesome options are available within your school's price range! So you observed no efforts within the "school foods" booths to offer better products? Do you think conventional suppliers will start to respond to the growing public buzz about unhealthy school lunches or simply rest on the laurels of efficiency and affordability?
ReplyDelete"The school “specialist” welcomed me to try a bag of corn chips and said that an easy way to serve them is to snip off the top of the bag and fill it with chili and shredded cheese."
ReplyDeleteReally? Wow. I guess I don't feel so bad about the lack of vegetables in my kids' lunchboxes today, then. Plenty of fruit, dairy, and non-meat protein. Sometimes, I just let the veggies slide since I know they won't refuse them at dinner....
It is so uplifting to read about a lady such as yourself working from the inside to make our school cafeteria foods healthier.
ReplyDeleteIf I knew the ladies at my school were seeking out the tomato sauce without corn syrup, I would feel much better about eating food from school.
Thanks for doing what you do.
Isnt it AMAZING the things that they gear towards schools? I constantly have to bite my tongue in order not to be rude or offensive to the sales reps.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found some quality products in the mix :)