Middle school kitchen staff, students work together to serve better lunch

LITCHFIELD, Minn. — When the federal government mandated in 2012 healthier school lunches — trays filled with more fruits and vegetables, and smaller portions of meat and carbohydrates — many students complained about feeling unsatisfied with the flavor and portion size.

Since then, food service workers have been working to implement new foods into the menu such as mangoes, black beans and jicama to meet federal guidelines. As a way to help out kitchen staff, a group of three Litchfield Middle School students decided to find out just what middle school students are looking for when the bell rings for lunch.

“We were trying to improve our school lunches, for kids to make better food choices and make it more appealing,” said Max Tibbits, who worked on the project with fellow students Zach Olson and Brandt Pedersen.

The project helped the boys understand the constraints the lunch staff work under in terms of government regulations, which promote foods that do not always align with middle school students’ palates.

“We always thought the food was bad, but it’s not their fault,” Olson said. “We’re trying to bring that positive morale back.”

As a way to get a feel for what students like, the boys placed lunch items into small cups and asked middle school students to try the different foods and then throw their cups away in one of two garbage cans — one representing a positive reaction to the food and the other a negative reaction — as a way to survey the students.

“We wanted kids to be more open-minded when trying new things,” Olson said. One of the new foods the students sampled was hummus, a dip or spread made from crushed chickpeas.

About half of the students who tried the hummus liked it, Tibbits said. But the biggest challenge was getting kids to even try some of the new foods.

“They would stick it in their mouth and spit it back out, or just smell it,” he said.

The boys also met with members of student council to discuss foods students would like added to the menu. Olson, Tibbits and Pedersen decided fruit parfaits made from yogurt and fresh strawberries would be a good item to add because they taste sweet and fulfill both dairy and fruit requirements.

The fruit parfaits debuted on the middle school lunch menu May 7, and the boys reported that they tasted really good. Pedersen said he hopes other students will try the parfaits and other new foods, and thinks they might be more open-minded listening to their fellow students over the lunch staff or teachers.

“Since we’re students, they kind of follow our lead,” Pedersen said of his classmates.

Irene Miller and Alice Hamann, food service workers at Litchfield Middle School, said they appreciate when students tell the lunch crew what they like and might want to try. For example, students requested bread pudding — a traditional Mexican dessert — for Cinco de Mayo.

As she was cutting up strawberries and placing them atop yogurt, Hamann said the fruit parfaits seemed to be a hit among the students.

“They’re really liking it,” she said.

The boys’ project took first place at the state Family, Career and Community Leaders of America competition in April and advanced to the national competition this summer.