Schools try to balance nutrition, taste

Teachers are discouraged from using candy as a reward in Spokane Public Schools. Students can’t buy sodas, chips or candy bars in many schools in Washington and Idaho.

To help curtail national youth obesity trends, school districts have slimmed down their fatty and sugary snack offerings on school grounds.

That’s why the school lunch menu can be confusing.

On the first day of school, elementary school students in Spokane were offered an entrée more akin to the county fair – corn dogs. Two days later, students were served nachos. Also on the menu in September are pizza and hamburgers.

This is nutritional cuisine?

“A corn dog or a hot dog from time to time is not an unhealthy option,” said Doug Wordell, director of nutrition services for Spokane Public Schools. “We’re starting to limit some of the convenience items, but we’re not eliminating them. … We’re still going to offer pizza.”

Combining the entrée with fruit, milk and salad helps round out the meal, Wordell said.

“I can put out spinach and Tofutti, but if kids don’t eat it, it ends up in the garbage can,” Wordell said. “We balance customer preference with nutritional needs.”

Schools face the same problem as parents who push fresh veggies at home while television commercials offer “fruit snacks” and attitudinal cartoons shilling fatty chips. Home life still dictates a student’s dining habits, Wordell said.

“Students tend to eat what they are exposed to at home,” Wordell said.

Before people take issue with corn dogs they should realize that there is a difference between a school corn dog and a fairground Kingdog, said Linda Turner, director of food service at the Coeur d’Alene School District.

“Every corn dog is not created equal,” Turner said.

Once a month her school offers a baked corn dog containing 8 grams of fat. Spokane Public Schools offers a corn dog made of turkey with 14 grams of fat. Both districts bake their breaded dogs instead of deep-frying.

In the Coeur d’Alene School District, Turner offered something new this fall in the lunchroom – a fruit and vegetable bar set up for students to walk by before they get to the main dishes.

Turner said she wanted hungry students with empty trays to first see fresh choices, and so far it’s working.

“At first, some of the kids took more than they could eat,” Turner said, who’s been at her post for 17 years.

There are always adjustments on the menu.

For years, Turner and her staff assumed pizza was a student favorite. Instead, the most popular item was bread sticks with pizza sauce for dipping.

“I think they like to dip. They like things they can hold in their hand,” Turner said.

Evidently, casseroles and lasagna are not kid favorites in Spokane, either, where finger foods dominate popular choices.

The most well-liked meals for among the nearly 30,000 students in Spokane include chicken nuggets, nachos, hamburgers, pizza and breaded chicken patties.

The only non-finger food that’s remained popular is turkey and gravy, Wordell said.

Schools are always looking for new dishes to meet healthier menus and changing tastes.

Wordell said his staff has experimented with low-fat sauces. He’s looking for an unbreaded chicken nugget that students would actually eat. In November or December, a skinless chicken breast will appear on the menu. Experience has taught him that appearance counts for a lot with students.

“We tried a taco bite and it was fairly nice, low fat. It had a pretty good taste profile,” Wordell said.

Its appearance left a little to be desired, and it was eventually dropped from the menu.

“It looked kind of like dried dog food,” Wordell said.