Chef works to provide fresh lunches for local schoolchildren
Lunch at Georgia Brown Elementary School. Fresh pasta with meatballs, sauce made from scratch and fresh vegetables.
Produce is grown in school gardens
–Students at three schools in the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District are getting a taste of fresh food for lunch. The pilot lunch program that is switching from pre-packaged to scratch cooking for school lunches is the vision of Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Director of Food Services Gregg Wangard. The new direction for school lunches means meals are prepared from fresh produce and individual ingredients rather than packaged products. The school lunches are prepared at the Culinary Arts Academy which is also home to the school district’s Student Food and Nutrition Services. The goal is for all schools in the district to provide fresh, whole food lunches.
Some of the produce earmarked for the lunches is already being grown in gardens at Georgia Brown Elementary School, Virginia Peterson Elementary School and the Kermit King Elementary School. The students plant and tend the gardens with the help of parents, school staff and community volunteers. The gardens are planted with seasonal produce. Composting and vermiculture are part of the gardening projects.
Wangard said some of the produce will go to the Culinary Arts Academy kitchen for district school lunches and the children will have the option to eat their own produce from their school salad bars. “We want to sell excess produce to parents after school,” said Wangard. There are also plans to grow more starts for parents to buy and plant at home.
A view of the garden at Georgia Brown Elementary School.
“It is our goal, given time, to become a whole-food-from-scratch-cooking-method program district wide,” said Wangard. “This means we will be receiving, cleaning, cooking and serving fruits, vegetables and meat.” The program started in April 2015. Georgia Brown Elementary is 100 percent buffet style service, no packaged meals. Friday’s menu included fresh cooked pasta and sauce made from scratch in the Culinary Arts Academy kitchen. Students chose from pasta with fresh pasta sauce, meatballs, potatoes, salad, fresh vegetables and fruit.
Chef Gregg Wangard started the fresh cooked-from-scratch school lunch program in 2015.
Wangard said local farms and vendors are used as much as possible. The Food Bank Coalition and Glean SLO donate thousands of pounds of fresh produce weekly. More access to more local farms through Harvest Santa Barbara, a Central Coast distributor for local organic produce. Student Nutrition and Food Services provides lunches for all of the schools in the Paso Robles School District plus Pleasant Valley School in San Miguel, San Ardo Union Elementary School and Bradley Elementary School.
Wangard said that 1500 to 2000 lunches are prepared daily at the Culinary Arts Academy. There are approximately 6600 students in the school district. Wangard’s goal is to see as many of those students as possible taking advantage of freshly prepared and nutritious lunches. School lunch costs $3.00 for elementary schools, and $3.25 for middle schools and high schools.
The Culinary Arts Academy, home of the Paso Robles school district culinary arts program and the student food and nutrition services.
The Culinary Arts Academy is a unique and multi-productive facility that provides culinary arts and food industry training for high school juniors and seniors. The program, headed by Chef Phillip Riccomini, is a four semester elective. Riccomini developed the program and has been teaching it for the past 18 years. Approximately 50 students per year take the course.
“The food industry is the largest industry in the world,” said Riccomini. “We teach a work ethic, multi-tasking and prioritizing in a reality based program serving actual customers.” The students prepare all the food, learn to work in all aspects of kitchen management, food preparation, and food service. The Academy Cafe is open to the public Tuesday through Friday for breakfast and lunch. Culinary arts students prepare and serve the meals. A Cuesta College culinary arts program is starting at the academy this fall. Riccomini states he will be teaching two fundamental courses and one baking course for the Cuesta curriculum.
The Culinary Arts Academy and the Academy Cafe are located at 1900 Golden HIlls Road, Paso Robles, and can be reached by phone at (805) 769-1133. For more information about the cook from scratch lunch program, contact Gegg Wangard at (805) 459-4324.
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