Over the past year, the Ithaca City School District Child Nutrition Department has been working with the Chef Ann Foundation to create a robust nutrition program that allows us to serve healthy, delicious, and sustainable meals to our community. We have made important changes to the way we operate and the food we serve, and we are very proud of the efforts of our nutrition staff. When students have access to adequate, healthy food, it not only helps them develop lifelong healthy eating habits, but improves overall academic success.
Some of the key features and upgrades we have made to our school food program include:
- A six-week lunch menu cycle: The six-week menu cycle will continue to repeat over the course of the school year and is similar at every grade level. The breakfast menu will operate on a two-week cycle and will be the same at every grade level as well.
Our menu showcases increased equity, sustainability, and quality in our cafeterias: In developing the menu, our Executive Chef, Jamie Zervos, worked to highlight higher quality foods, culturally preferred meals, and sustainable menus. All of the food for the district is now made in our Boynton Middle School kitchen to ensure quality and consistency. Jennifer Doolittle, Director of Operations, oversees all building cafeteria operations.
Housemade cooking: Almost every meal served in the district is made with whole foods, so there are often no preservatives or additives. Most days, there will be two hot entrees (one of which is vegetarian) and a salad bar. Throughout the year, we will continue to feature favorites like Pizza Mondays, offer taste tests, and share recipes for you and your family to try at home!
Salad bars: Salad bars are now available at all schools, featuring seasonal produce choices throughout the year sourced from local farms, when available. All salad bar ingredients are prepared in the Boynton kitchen, and we are looking forward to purchasing an industrial food processor to create even more salad offerings for every building. Students can have the salad bar as a side to their lunch or as an entree; it will be dynamic for any student looking for a vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or dairy-free meal daily.
Our food service program is pursuing change with students’ well-being as our priority. Our team is working hard to ensure every student in the ICSD has access to and is choosing to eat nutritious and delicious food in school. We appreciate your support during this year of change.
For additional information, please visit our FAQ page or Contact Director of Child Nutrition Beth Krause at beth.krause@icsd.k12.ny.us.
