{"id":10506,"date":"2022-09-01T11:13:43","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T15:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10506"},"modified":"2022-12-14T10:43:21","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:43:21","slug":"sustainable-healthy-and-delicious-all-virginia-beach-school-cafeterias-returning-to-scratch-cooking-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/sustainable-healthy-and-delicious-all-virginia-beach-school-cafeterias-returning-to-scratch-cooking-model\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable, healthy and delicious: All Virginia Beach school cafeterias returning to scratch-cooking model"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2013by Svetla Tomanova<\/em><\/p>\n

Cafeteria managers are exploring new ways to prepare healthier meals from scratch using the latest cafeteria equipment.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During a two-day workshop, nearly 120 cafeteria staff members recently learned about changes in the school nutrition federal programs, refreshed their knowledge on kitchen safety, received updates on menus and much more.<\/p>\n

They also taste-tested some scratch items on this year\u2019s menu and learned about kitchen equipment during summer training at Ocean Lakes High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmpowering our food-services workers as educators and respected members of the school staff is one of our goals as we continue to roll out our scratch-cooking program,\u201d said\u00a0Sustainability Officer Tim Cole.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is the first time cafeteria managers will be offering Scratch Cooking Initiative menu items at all schools, said Viorica Harrison, director of the Office of Food Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are eager to see all students back in the cafeterias,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n

The program started on a small scale in 2016 after the VBCPS Sustainability Leadership Summit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Al Brodersen of Lane Marketing Group demonstrates how to use the Robot-Coupe and combi ovens during the division wide training.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOnly Old Donation School was in the pilot program, because it was the newest school and we could incorporate the kitchen equipment we needed to return to scratch cooking,\u201d Cole said.<\/p>\n

Driven by the pilot\u2019s success, the goal was set \u2013\u00a0grow the program and retrofit all 86 schools for scratch-cooking ready by 2024.<\/p>\n

Amid the flurry of activities at the workshop, participants taste-tested 10 lunch items featuring their newly acquired skills. They explored new dishes, such as Havana chicken nachos, chicken enchilada, pulled pork Frito nachos, sweet potato souffl\u00e9 and Mexicali corn salsa. Breakfast items such as apples, peaches and oats were on the menu as well.<\/p>\n

Locally grown produce is a key ingredient in preparing meals from scratch, so Harrison and her staff will use products from local farms and gradually increase local procurement by 30% over 2009 levels, Harrison said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cVBCPS is a great place to learn, and we hope it\u2019s also a great place to eat,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

At the end of the workshop, everybody\u2019s enthusiasm was palpable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are creating a culture that values sustainability and supports sustainable practices at every level,\u201d Cole said. \u201cThe food that we provide for students reflects that commitment. Let\u2019s lead by example and execute this program well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apply<\/em><\/a> to become a food-service hero!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2013by Svetla Tomanova Cafeteria managers are exploring new ways to prepare healthier meals from scratch using the latest cafeteria equipment. During a two-day workshop, nearly 120 cafeteria staff members recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10506"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10518,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10506\/revisions\/10518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}