LYNCHBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – Lynchburg City Schools is raising the bar for what it means to provide high-quality school meals. It’s partnering with culinary chefs to bring a new taste to students’ plates in a healthier manner.
“We’re making sure our school food is as healthy, nutritious and tasty as it can be,” said LCS Deputy Superintendent Reid Wodika.
Gone are the days of cafeteria staff warming up frozen meals to serve to students. Lynchburg City Schools is saying goodbye to serving processed foods as the school division partners with food service provider Brigaid to deliver made-from-scratch meals that kids can enjoy eating.
“Brigaid is a growing organization that we have learned about through our peer organizations in other parts of the country. We’re the first in Virginia to offer this service. We are the first in Virginia to offer more and more fresh-from-scratch-cooked food and ensure our students have that every day. We knew that Brigaid is a group that is doing fantastic work throughout the country and so we wanted to bring that to Lynchburg because we think that Lynchburg kids deserve that,” said Wodika.
Brigaid puts professional chefs with culinary expertise into schools across the country. They provide hands-on training to nutrition staff on how to cook high-quality and healthy food for all students.
“We work a lot on knife skills and safe kitchen practices, so that each time we do a recipe it gets a little bit easier. It has been an entirely different experience than I’ve ever had. School nutrition has so many different skill levels and experience levels,” said Brigaid Program Chef Hannah Breig.
Breig works full-time with schools across LCS to bring its vision for school nutrition to life, from barbeque sauce to pasta salad, wraps and more. Ingredients used are produced locally to create a more upscale menu that tests new recipes.
“Kind of giving new flavors but also comforting meals. Something that they know but maybe don’t see on a daily basis, and I think that all of the people that work in the schools try to give love through their meals,” said Breig.
This new nutrition program is giving staff a reason to get excited about cooking in the kitchen.
“I think that they can see a difference and they have pride in what they’re doing. It’s a little bit different than opening a package and heating it up. They’re like, oh, I made this, rather than, oh, I just kind of warmed it up today,” said Breig.
“The kids have loved the new food. As we‘ve slowly built out new recipes, students have really engaged with them and enjoyed it. We‘re excited about not only thinking about everyday academics and other student development, but also thinking about the whole child and how it is that we not only nourish our students’ brains, but also our students’ bodies, so they grow up learning about really great foods, so they can have a happy, healthy life,” said Wodika.
LCS will host two Community Dinners at Linkhorne and Sandusky Middle School in February for folks to taste the fresh food being served to students.
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