K-12 menus take plant-forward eating back to basics

Erin Primer, food and nutrition services director at San Luis Coastal Unified School District in San Luis Obispo, Calif., received a grant from the state last year to educate students about plant-forward eating.

“Last summer, I held a virtual cooking class, preparing a burger with red lentils, sweet potatoes, oats, eggs, curry powder and Thai basil, then tested it with high school students taking a culinary class,” she says. “Even the big beef eaters loved the Thai Basil Lentil Burger. It was much more work to serve than a processed plant-based meat patty, but so much more flavorful and fresh tasting.”

Primer is just one of a number of K-12 operators who are gravitating toward grains, pulses (dried peas, lentils and beans) and vegetables to create plant-forward items that are less processed and less expensive than their commercial counterparts.  

“We want to serve kids good food that tastes good, whether it has meat in it or not,” she says. “Kids are tuned into words like ‘climate friendly’ and ‘plant-forward’ and I would like to see more whole foods enter this arena.”

Thai Basil Lentil Burger as served at San Luis Obispo schools. /Photo courtesy of Erin Primer

She also feels adamant that these items should stand on their own, and not be labeled as “meatless,” “vegan” or “vegetarian.” “Previously, we displayed hot entrees ‘with or without meat,’ but we don’t have to go in that direction. Now, we just label these ‘chicken burrito’ and ‘bean burrito,’” Primer says.

Plus it’s okay to have a meat-free item that doesn’t replicate a meat version, she believes. “We developed a Sweet Potato-Black Bean Bowl with Chimichurri that just wasn’t good with chicken, so we let it stand on its own,” Primer says.

Primer sources from a local farmer who grows red lentils, farro, triticale and other “funky” grains. After the test of the burger, she and her team had to figure out how to scale it up to menu it at the three high schools and two middle schools where it is being introduced.

“We make the patty mixture in bulk, form it into burgers, then sear and freeze them to send out to the schools to reheat,” she says.

Next up is a coconut rice bowl with daal, made with the same red lentils. Again, Primer turned to her taste tasters, introducing them to daal by having them read a library book called “Bilal Cooks Daal.” “The culinary class learned how to make the daal and became such fans,” she says.

Piloting a plant-based station

At Alexandria City Public Schools in Alexandria, Va., Executive Chef Jason Tepper is changing up a deli station at one of the high schools into “Nature’s Cafe,” a completely plant-based pilot program.

“We have a large Muslim population that doesn’t eat meat, so I am positioning this as a grab-and-go deli bar at lunch,” he says. On offer will be a homemade lentil burger, lentil sweet potato soup made with coconut milk and other items based on beans and chickpeas.

“We’re grappling with naming some of the items, as people from India put strong restrictions on what you can call things,” Tepper says. “You shouldn’t label a veggie cutlet a ‘cutlet’ because that’s what chicken is called.” Same with the lentil burger, he adds.

Tepper is putting hummus bars into all 18 schools that he oversees, offering hummus made with roasted chickpeas, sweet potatoes and other ingredients. He is currently trying to track down locally grown garbanzos for the bar, which will also be served over homemade pickles.

“We started to introduce scratch cooking last year and are moving away from using processed foods, including plant-based products,” Tepper says.

Grab-and-go chef's salad features portobellos, sunflower seeds and other veggie-forward ingredients. /Photo courtesy of The Mushroom Council

Monique Johnson, nutrition and menus assistant director for Cobb County School District in Kennesaw, Ga., has looked at some of the commercial plant-based products, “but the pricing and accrediting for K-12 programs is a challenge,” she says. Besides, “my preference as a dietitian is to avoid meat analogs. Most have long ingredients lists.”

Although students show an interest in branded plant-based nuggets and sausage, she is incorporating more beans and lentils into school lunches. A Vegetarian Taco Salad uses black beans and corn and a Southwest Pasta Salad has a base of lentil pasta.

“We offer a vegetarian item every day on the menu, and at first, we used a lot of cheese to replace meat,” says Johnson, “but now we’re adding legumes.” A Hummus Plate, which includes hummus, a cheese stick, carrots, celery and flatbread and a Veggie Wrap spread with hummus are always available.

“We’re doing a better job of presenting vegetarian items on the serving line. Students no longer have to ask for them,” says Johnson. “We’re also marketing beans and lentils with more appealing wrappers, packaging, stickers and signage. We promote new veggie menu items as a ‘new product alert’ and don’t single these out as meatless items for vegetarians.”