School cafeteria food just isn't what it used to be — and that's really not a bad thing in the least.
As opposed to the Sloppy Joe "mystery meat" that the lunch lady would so memorably sling down on a stale bun in the '90s, lunch times have certainly changed in the past few years alone.
Now the foods the lunch lady presents aren't slopped, but rather delicately prepared and served. They aren't made to be cheap and filling, but are made to be nutritional, freshly prepared, and composed of the freshest ingredients.
School starts up again Aug. 6 for high school students in Tulare, and Aug. 13 for all students in Visalia, Exeter, and students K-12 in Tulare.
"One of the menu items being replaced is the macaroni and cheese," Regina Ocampo, Director of Nutritional Services for the Visalia Unified School District said. "We used to have a preprocessed macaroni and cheese, but now we're making it on-site."
Among the many new items being prepared at Visalia school cafeterias — rather than being shipped-in from the outside — is the new chili con carne dish, the penne pasta in white sauce offering, and the new Teriyaki beef bowl.
"We added an oriental bowl because they really like the orange chicken," Ocampo said.
Aug. 8 marks the one-year anniversary that Regina Ocampo has served as the Director of Nutritional Services for VUSD, and with her second year in the position she hopes to bring changes as well as continue the current leaps in nutrition that local schools have already taken.
"We went from a four-week to a six-week cycle for lunch, which we hope will add variety. In addition we added 22 new items in hopes that there will be more things kids like," she said.
Considering that it's the kids who are eating it every weekday — many for multiple meals — it seems only right that they have a say in what goes on their plate next.
For the Tulare Joint Union High School District, it appears there is a general consensus in the selection.
"We were going with one standardized menu across the menus of all three schools," Rory McCarthy, Director of Food Services for TJUHSD said. "We received surveys that confirmed what the students were looking for, and at all schools the top three items were all the same."
With that same menu the district is also implementing an advisory committee that will also eventually implement student involvement, McCarthy explained.
The survey provides a window for food services into what the taste buds of local students are seeking, but pleasing those developing palettes isn't always easy, especially when there are certain guidelines that need to be met.
"I'm sure you're aware of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act," Ocampo said.
First Lady Michelle Obama pushed and advocated for the 2010 legislation that would authorize funding and set the policy for current USDA core child nutrition programs.
Among the standards set are ones to lower sodium levels (goodbye, salt-drenched pretzel), made to offer a full cup of fruit at breakfast (get going, Go-gurt), and that 100 percent of grains be whole grain rich.
It's that last one that tends to leave a bad taste in the mouths of some students.
"It's very challenging with items that are whole grain," McCarthy said. "The students, they do still tend to complain about the rice, but there's no solution to that. They prefer whole-grain items, but that's unfortunately not what we serve."