Two hundred eighty pans of roasted bird and 208 pans of baked potatoes are headed to New Haven schools Thursday.
Workers prepared the chicken and vegetables Tuesday at the school system’s central kitchen on Barnes Avenue.
They used to send chicken patties and nuggets to the schools. They used to prepare powdered instant potatoes.
That was before New Haven took back control of its school meals from an outside contractor, and embarked on a cutting-edge experiment in serving kids fresher, more healthful food.
The central kitchen crew seasoned, wrapped, and froze trays of the chicken Tuesday in preparation for delivery to 30 public schools Thursday as the prime item on the lunch menu. (Other schools have their own cooking facilities.) The crew roasted the potatoes, too.
Since last summer, when the city fired a contractor named Aramark, Tim Cipriano (aka Channel 3’s “Food Dude”) has been working to move the menu to baked, rather than fried and breaded, entrees; and fresh fruits and vegetables. Read about those efforts here and here.
Click on the play arrow at the top of the story for a visit with the crew preparing the chicken and potatoes.
And click here for the full school system menu.
When he sits in cafeterias with kids sampling peppers or butternut squash, Cipriano (pictured) registers the surprise on their faces. “Some kids didn’t know peaches came from trees and were round. They were afraid to eat” one, he said. “It’s the first time they’ve ever eaten a vegetable in some cases.”
“We want to stop being experts at the can opener and start being experts on cooking,” said Will Clark, chief administrative officer for the school system. He and Cipriano have been working with not-for-profit groups (like CitySeed) and the state and federal bureaucracies to hook up the city with programs encouraging fresher, more healthful school meals.
“It’s different [this year]. We never had this,” Haydee Ortiz (pictured), a 12-year veteran of New Haven public school kitchens, said of the fresh vegetables and meat dishes she’s been preparing. “The kids love it … I feel so good about this.”
At first the roasted chicken surprised the kids, reported lead cook Michele DiBacco. They told her, “Oh, it’s like home! It’s like Thanksgiving dinner! Is it a special occasion?” After a while, fresh food might start tasting like the norm.