Chefs move to schools. A pilot examination of how chef-created dishes can increase school lunch participation and fruit and vegetable intake

Appetite. 2014 Dec:83:242-247. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2014.08.033. Epub 2014 Aug 27.

Abstract

To demonstrate the feasibility of introducing a main dish designed by a professional chef in the National School Lunch Program and to document the impact on child participation, a chef was recruited to design pizza to be served in an upstate New York school district. The pizza was designed to meet both the cost and ingredient requirements of the NSLP. High school students were significantly more likely to select the pizza prepared by the chef. While the chef had no significant impact on main dish consumption given selection, more students took a vegetable and vegetable consumption increased by 16.5%. This pilot study demonstrates the plausibility of using chefs to boost participation in the school lunch program, and potentially increase nutrition through side selection, among high school students.

Keywords: Child behavior; Child nutrition sciences; Food habits; Food preferences.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Behavior
  • Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena*
  • Child
  • Child Behavior
  • Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
  • Child, Preschool
  • Choice Behavior
  • Cookbooks as Topic
  • Cooking / methods*
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Food Services / economics
  • Fruit*
  • Humans
  • Lunch*
  • New York
  • Nutrition Policy*
  • Patient Compliance*
  • Pilot Projects
  • Professional Competence
  • Schools
  • Vegetables*
  • Workforce