LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Los Angeles Unified School District students returning to campus this school year will find new menu offerings in their cafeterias, including dishes developed with input from students and crafted with farm-fresh ingredients.<\/p>\n
Students, teachers, chefs and community members gathered at West Adams Preparatory High School for a preview tasting event showcasing the district’s latest school meal selections.<\/p>\n
Among those sampling the food was Polytechnic High School student Brando Espinoza. “So far I’m liking it. It has some really fresh flavors,” Espinoza said. Eight-year-old Alina Palos also praised the menu. “It tastes really good,” Palos said.<\/p>\n
District officials said students helped create some of the recipes featured in the new lineup.<\/p>\n
“We just want to represent everybody in our culture and make delicious food,” said Daniel Sandoval, an amateur chef whose team created the winning entry, “Butter Chicken and Kachumber Salad.” Sandoval said the dish incorporates traditional Indian flavors. “Basically just using traditional Indian spices such as Tumeric and curry spice,” he said.<\/p>\n
The menu items are made with farm-to-table ingredients, according to LAUSD officials.<\/p>\n
“If you had told me 30 years ago that we would have pozole on the menu, I wouldn’t have believed you,” LAUSD Superintendent Andres E. Chait said. Chait said the district’s partnership with local growers helps provide students with fresh fruits and vegetables, a significant change from the school meals he remembers from decades ago. “We’ve come a long way from that,” he said.<\/p>\n
Celebrity chefs also contributed to the development of several new menu items, including a breakfast bowl with chorizo, a pork katsu sandwich, an LA cheesesteak and lasagna rolls.<\/p>\n
“For me food has such a powerful impact on our lives,” said celebrity chef Nyesha Arrington. Chait said nutrition plays an important role in student success. “Our second brain is our gut, so if we’re feeding our kids well they can learn better and they’ll be in school more often,” he said.<\/p>\n
Officials said creating nutritious meals at a scale that can serve tens of thousands of students each day requires extensive testing and precise measurements.<\/p>\n
“Grams and everything like how much sugar we use, how much flour we use, how much salt we use, everything. We have to measure everything we do,” Sandoval said.<\/p>\n
LAUSD schools provide breakfast, lunch and dinner to approximately half a million students.<\/p>\n
For Palos, the experience of eating meals designed with students in mind is a positive one.<\/p>\n
“It feels wonderful,” she said.<\/p>\n
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