School district’s culinary boot camp caters to fresh lunches

A culinary boot camp is teaching cafeteria workers how to make school lunch in a way that they never imagined.

"We were basically heat and eat. It went straight from the freezer to the pan to the plate," said Angel Radford, lead cook at Dawkins Middle.

For the second year in a row, frozen food and preservative-packed products are out, and fresh, locally-grown ingredients are in.

"We're working with lots of ingredients I thought we would never see in the cafeteria, as far as our spices and fresh herbs," said Radford.

This year's boot camp is teaching 30 new employees knife and cooking skills just in time for the new school year.

"Old school style was cooking from scratch, and we went away from that, and District 6, we're trying to bring that back," said Travis Fisher, director of Food Service.

On Thursday, the employees used Asian, Italian and Greek flavors to make risotto, pasta, meatloaf, and chicken legs.

"I love it. I enjoy my job. I love every minute of it. It's great to be able to get up and come to work every morning and know that I'm providing something for a child that they may not have had elsewhere," Radford said.