HISD to Compete in Great American School Lunch Challenge March 7

How do you create a healthy, yet appetizing, school lunch on a very limited budget?

That’s a challenge faced by many public school districts across the country on a daily basis—and now, that dilemma is taking center stage in the nation’s capitol on March 7.

The Partnership for a Healthier America is hosting its second annual Building a Healthier Future Summit March 6–8, 2013, in Washington, D.C., and one of the event’s highlights is an “Iron Chef”-like competition called the Great American School Lunch Challenge.

Members of HISD’s Food Services staff will be squaring off against their peers at the State of Delaware’s Colonial School District, both with the help of celebrity Food TV network chefs.

HISD will be working with Chef Ann Burrell, who visited HISD’s Gregory Lincoln Education Center on Jan. 25 to talk with district administrators and students in the culinary arts program there about her ideas for the competition.

“We’re very excited to have Chef Anne here,” said Senior Administrator of HISD Food Services Brian Giles. “We’ve made significant improvements to what we offer kids on a daily basis, with reduced salt, sugar, and fat, and a lot more fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, and whole foods. In Texas, we ‘go big or go home,’ so we’re gonna win this thing. And I hope to share our new recipe with the students of HISD when we return.”