Chefs to Watch: Minneapolis Public Schools’ Chef Rebecca Polson makes school food stylish

Rebecca Polson recently celebrated her 7^th anniversary in school foodservice. Reflecting back on that time, she’d just left the commercial world of burgers and fries for a whole new world of getting kids to try snap peas and squash. She credits her childhood in a military family that moved around a lot for her innate ability to move around the world with little to zero drama.

“When Bertrand Weber calls, you answer,” she tells us in this Chef to Watch video interview. She’s referring to Minneapolis Public Schools’ accomplished leader, who recruited Polson from another big district in South Carolina.

We chat with Polson about why being a chef also means being a leader, plus how she accomplishes that overseeing 72 school sites, each one unique. During the pandemic, Polson went above and beyond with social media, creating videos to show kids and their families how to make nutritious (and really cool) meals from the boxes provided throughout the year. This summer and fall, Polson says the team is “getting back to basics” because there are a lot of new staffers getting their feet under them.

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