Chartwells, a Compass Division that serves K-12 schools, has a program that they call Chefs 2 Schools that I encourage everyone to try and participate in. Since most Chartwells accounts don't have chefs on site, the program encourages chefs from other sectors to visit the schools. I guess their thinking is, someone with a funny, tall hat on will be able to entice school children to try and eat healthier. This past week I visited Belding elementary school, 3-5 grade, to help Traci Nelson (Director of Food service for Belding Public Schools) make smoothies during their lunch period. We made one with fruit and one that had kale in it and students were encouraged to try both. Even though we only gave out 3oz samples, they consumed approximately 16 gallons of smoothies in 1 hour (400 students)! We used to call the kale smoothie a Shrek shake, but now, since most of the kids have never heard of him, we call it a Spartan Shake. It was their favorite.
