{"id":23897,"date":"2015-08-17T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T04:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=23897"},"modified":"2015-08-17T00:01:27","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T04:01:27","slug":"how-miami-dade-schools-balances-what-kids-want-to-eat-vs-what-they-should","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2015\/08\/17\/how-miami-dade-schools-balances-what-kids-want-to-eat-vs-what-they-should\/","title":{"rendered":"How Miami-Dade Schools Balances What Kids Want To Eat Vs. What They Should"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

John O'Connor \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

A tray of guavalitos before baking. The breakfast treats are locally-made in Miami-Dade County and have just 100 calories.<\/p><\/div>\n

For the first time in decades, the majority of U.S. school children come from low-income families<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Florida has one of the highest rates in the country — federal data shows just seven states have a higher percentage of low-income students.<\/p>\n

That means more students qualify for — and depend on — free meals provided by school districts. And meal service is now a year-round job <\/strong>instead of just when school is in session.<\/p>\n

Ever planned Thanksgiving for a dozen relatives? Now imagine planning 200,000 lunches daily.<\/p>\n

In Miami-Dade County schools, those meals starts in the district’s test kitchen, where\u00a0Donna Drummond demonstrates how she makes spinach lasagna, a new addition to menus this year.<\/p>\n

She ladles sauce into a pan. Then she places the frozen lasagna rolls — made with whole grain pasta and mozzarella cheese — into the pan.<\/p>\n

The dish is designed to be easy and quick to make for hundreds of students.\u00a0It comes with a salad and a breadstick spiked with low-fat mozzarella cheese.<\/p>\n

A new breakfast choice is the guavalito, a lower-sugar version of Miami\u2019s ubiquitous guava-and-cheese pastry. It\u2019s just 100 calories.<\/p>\n

These new choices are part of a menu this year featuring more vegetarian options.<\/p>\n


\nThe district was adding fruit and vegetables years before the federal government said it had to. It\u2019s been seven years since Miami-Dade schools has served a hot dog.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a><\/p>\n

John O’Connor \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>\n

Some of the new choices on Miami-Dade school menus this year: Spinach lasagna, Greek yogurt and the guavalito.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Every item is screened for ingredients — no high-fructose corn syrup, MSG or added trans fat — and then given a test run in the district kitchen.<\/p>\n

District food director Penny Parham is in charge of what kids eat at school.<\/p>\n

“All year\u2026 we listen to what our students say,” she said. “We do focus groups with our students. And we also, you know, follow the food trends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami-Dade schools serve 200,000 lunches and 90,000 breakfasts everyday.<\/p>\n

More students also depend on schools for meals than ever before. Fifty-nine percent of Florida students qualify for free or reduced-price school meals. In some schools, nearly every student qualifies.<\/p>\n

Even during summer break, schools are serving meals. Most big districts around the country now keep kitchens open, and even deliver meals to camps.<\/p>\n

The Florida Department of Agriculture even has a website to find the closest place serving summer meals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we never stop,” Parham said. “We were serving lunches on June 8, which I think was the Monday after the last day of school.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miami-Dade<\/a>

John O'Connor \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

Miami-Dade schools are adding veggie wraps to the menu, and students can also grab Naked juice.<\/p><\/div>\n

Farm-to-table has been a restaurant trend for years, but schools are also trying to serve locally grown produce.<\/p>\n

When Florida crops have bumper years, that means bargains for the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn February, there happened to be really great prices on strawberries for a short period of time,” Parham said. “And we actually gave students fresh strawberries at breakfast right before spring break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parham said students will eat vegetables if you serve them right. Instead of steaming them, maybe shred them, so students can add them to a sandwich.<\/p>\n

Parham said the district gives preference to local farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to serve our Florida produce, and we want to serve stuff that\u2019s even closer \u2013 here in Miami-Dade, if possible,” she said. “We have green beans and corn that come straight from a farm that\u2019s up by Lake Okeechobee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Allen\u2019s Pahokee farm<\/a> provides those corn cobs and green beans for schools in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. He also grows cabbage, sugar cane and feed corn for cattle.<\/p>\n

Allen said healthier meals are good for business. Schools make up about 5 percent of his total sales. But because they\u2019re serving meals year-round, he\u2019s been able to add permanent jobs growing and packing crops.<\/p>\n

“Most of the time the kids are eating the product within three to four days from harvest,” Allen said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

John O'Connor \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

The young crops in Kelsey Pharr Elementary school's "food forest."<\/p><\/div>\n

Allen also brings corn and bean plants to schools to teach kids how food is grown and harvested. That\u2019s just one way schools have helped kids have a personal stake in what they eat.<\/p>\n

For instance, students at 11 Miami-Dade elementary schools are growing kale, tomatoes passion fruit and other produce in what\u2019s been dubbed \u201cfood forests.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Adults do a lot of thinking and planning for school food, but Miami-Dade menu supervisor Susan Rothstein said students have their own tastes. She trusts cafeteria managers to know what their students want to eat.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of them know their kids,” she said. “So if you have a school where the managers says, \u2018Oh no, my kids will love it.\u2019 We\u2019re like, \u2018Alright, you can try it.\u2019 “<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time in decades, the majority of U.S. school children come from low-income families. Florida has one of the highest rates in the country — federal data shows just seven states have a higher percentage of low-income students. That means more students qualify for — and depend on — free meals provided by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":23900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1021,1128,720],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23901,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23897\/revisions\/23901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}