Roving Chefs

Abel Garcia is the chef and director of dining services at 3,000-student Page Unified School District #8 in Arizona. When Southwest Foodservice Excellence took over the contract in July, Garcia, who works for the management company at the district, wanted a way to engage students.

“I wanted a way to be able to involve the kids in the cafeteria more. We wanted them to associate the cafeteria not just with coming in to eat but also with learning about nutrition. This also helped me break the barrier between foodservice and the teachers because they see that we educate the students too.

I do Roving Chef presentations where I cook with students showing them menu components, sanitation, nutrition and healthy eating habits. The kids get to tour the kitchen so they see what the ladies do to cook lunch. I ask a principal to have four students meet me in the cafeteria and together we prepare a recipe during lunchtime in front of a student audience. I think we go beyond par to help children understand more about healthy eating. Through our Roving Chef program, we are able to reach more students.

I recommend remembering that this is a kid activity, so keep your mind in child mode. Think how a K-5th grader would think and have fun with it.”