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Campbell school cooks learn healthier alternatives from chef
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
CAMPBELL
Shannon Gerasimchik doesn’t want the kitchen staff at Campbell Elementary-Middle School to have a rebellion on their hands, especially when 700 students realize certain familiar ingredients in their breakfasts and lunches have been replaced with more healthful alternatives.
So, standing at the head of a food-preparation table in the school’s kitchen Friday morning, the Columbus-based chef advised the nine cooks and one supervisor to ease students into better eating by gradually eliminating salt, adding more whole grains and using low-fat substitutes in their cooking.
“How can we change the recipe to where they do enjoy it?” Gerasimchik asked. “You guys know the taste buds and palates of your kids. You know what they’re throwing away, what they like and don’t like. You have the best chance to help them eat healthier.”
The cooks’ training session, which ran from 9 a.m. to noon, was part of the HealthierUS School Challenge, a USDA program that promotes the importance of good nutrition and physical activity.
For the first hour of the session, Gerasimchik offered numerous suggestions for the preparation of healthier food options and how to present them to students.
This was followed by two hours’ worth of cooking, sampling and reviewing a handful of new recipes — such as Lentils of the Southwest and Berry Crisp — to figure out “whether kids will enjoy the recipes or rebel against them,” Gerasimchik said.
During the former, the chef emphasized the use of standardized recipes — which he said should produce results that taste the same every single time, no matter who prepares them. In addition to consistency, other benefits include savings in time — “you get faster every time you’re preparing that recipe,” Gerasimchik said — and in cost, as the recipe’s exact measures, ingredients and procedures virtually eliminate the possibility of waste.
Gerasimchik also touched upon strategies for seasoning foods without salt, such as making their own international spice mixes, and cautioned that though a cook might not be “physically adding a pinch of salt,” it doesn’t mean the food is low in sodium. In general, foods low in sodium contain less than 140 milligrams of sodium per serving.
He added that canned and processed foods are especially high in salt content, but that amount can be reduced in canned beans, for example, just by rinsing them.
In addition, Gerasimchik acknowledged that one of the most challenging changes to implement in the kitchen is the addition of whole grains.
Katina Valerio, head cook at Campbell Elementary-Middle School, chimed in that she’s noticed students’ reluctance to eat whole-grain pasta simply because they dislike the color.
To that, Gerasimchik again suggested gradually developing their taste buds by selecting a pasta that is a blend of whole-wheat and refined flours, or adding a whole-grain cereal to the breakfast menu.
Some of the recipes prepared during the morning-long session — such as the Chicken Alfredo with a Twist that excludes butter, substitutes half-and-half for heavy cream and uses significantly less Parmesan cheese than the traditional recipe — are ones that have already been adopted by the school’s kitchen staff, Valerio said.
She added that she strives to make sure that all students have a multitude of healthful breakfast and lunch options from which to choose, and that the kitchen staff is ahead of impending changes to the USDA dietary requirements — not behind them and trying to catch up.
“We know what’s going to be coming,” Valerio said. “Why wait?”
Matthew Bowen, superintendent of Campbell City Schools, added that he was grateful that Campbell Elementary-Middle School — of which 90 percent of its students receive either a free or reduced lunch — had the opportunity to host Gerasimchik.
“We want to make sure that we provide a healthy and nutritious meal for our students that is enjoyable,” Bowen said. “We want to re-educate our cooks to guarantee those healthy, nutritious offerings.”