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Rethinking the school lunch

When students at Dayton High School in Dayton, Kentucky get in the lunch line they are greeted with lots of color. A salad bar filled with carrots, multi-color peppers, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, celery and more. A tall series of wire baskets contain apples, oranges and bananas.

Jan Crone, director of food services for Dayton schools, and her counterparts from Franklin County, Indiana schools and three Cincinnati-based Catholic Inner City Education schools (Corryville Catholic, St. Boniface, and Holy Family) are the latest participants in the Cook for Americaprogram where the goal is healthier food at school and an education that will help kids eat better during their lifetime.

For the first time pasta fagioli is on the menu. Crone admitted it's a challenge providing food that not too expensive, is healthy and kids will eat. She welcomes help.

The program has three phases.

  1. School employees visit the kitchens at other participating schools and assess the food choices
  2. They attend a culinary boot camp to learn to cook from scratch in big quantities
  3. Cook for America chefs make follow-up visits

Interact for Health, a Cincinnati foundation, is paying for the schools to be part of the Cooks for America program. Last year Erlanger-Elsmere, Milford and Norwood took part.

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.