On Wednesday, May 3rd, Chef Ann Cooper came to visit Dryden Middle School, motivated to make a difference. She is the Founder and President at the Chef Ann Foundation, which works in every state, in approximately 14,000 schools and has impacted over 3 ½ million kids. Her goal is to have healthy scratch cooked food in every school for every kid.
Chef Ann has had a passion for food and nutrition since the beginning of her career. Almost 50 years ago, she became a celebrity chef, traveling all over the world cooking for others. Later on, she got into the concept of farm to school nutrition, “I really got into the concept of farm to school before that was really a thing, really supporting farmers in local procurement. From that, I wrote a book called, “Bitter Harvest,” talking about the food supply and why it is basically killing us. Eventually, I got asked to take over a school in East Hampton, New York. The founder of the school said she ate organic and healthily. She wanted that for her kids too. So she asked me to build a program from scratch and we did.” The program became high profile as it was located just outside of New York City. People became curious about the program and wanted to learn more about scratch cooking. That is where Chef Ann found she could make a difference in students' lives by educating school food services and started traveling across the country to spread her message. “I then traveled to California, Colorado and started my foundation. I decided I do not want to cook food for rich people. I want to feed our nation's children and positively impact our food supply. That is what I have been doing for 20 plus years.”
Dryden Central School District’s Director of Food Service, Megan Munson, has been learning about scratch cooking and different techniques she can teach her staff. As she prepares for the lunch rush, she gives insight into why scratch cooking is an essential part of student nutrition,“Scratch cooking promotes healthy eating as it incorporates more fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins into our students' diets. Our food service team is able to control the ingredients that go into our dishes, which is a great way to manage food allergies,” she explains, “Well nourished students are less frequently absent and tend to be more engaged in school. I look forward to building a stronger farm to school presence in our district, focusing on featuring locally grown, healthy foods in our school meals.” Megan and Chef Ann discuss different options for students, starting with taking away less processed foods. Next year, they are hoping to put in a salad bar for the middle school and high school cafeteria. Chef Ann continues to be a force for change and knows how critical her mission is, “Kids fall through the cracks when we decide that they need to eat ‘kid food.’ When people are trying to replicate fast food in schools it is not helping kids. It might be feeding them, but not giving them the good nutrition and health they need. What we know is hungry kids can’t learn, malnourished kids can’t think, and if we want to grow the next generation of children that can thrive and run the world then they have to be well fed and well nourished. That is the job of school foods.” Dryden Central School District thanks Chef Ann for taking the time out of her day to meet with our food service workers, offering advice, and making the effort to build a better understanding of how scratch cooking can positively impact our kids for generations to come. We welcome her back any time!