Healthier meals served at pricier LI private schools

Typical lunchtime fare includes quinoa, bean cakes, Swiss chard, fresh beets, tofu, tempeh, kimchee.

There are no sloppy joes. Hamburgers are served only three times a year during field days, and the beef is organic.

Private schools such as the Ross School in East Hampton don't operate under the same cost constraints public schools face when attempting to serve healthy food, allowing them more freedom to go beyond traditional school cafeteria meals.

Ross' food often is held up as a model for student dining.

A staff of 17 line chefs with impressive culinary backgrounds cook from scratch in a kitchen that rivals a five-star restaurant. And students actually like the healthy offerings, evidenced by the fact that they go through about 25 pounds of tofu per day.

Moss Turpan never had tried tofu, tempeh or polenta until he arrived at Ross. "It's pretty awesome," said Turpan, a sophomore when interviewed last school year. "It's crazy to have food this good at school."

Johanna Saldana, a junior, likes that she eats seasonal food at Ross. "The roasted carrots are yummy," she said. "I love the food here, compared to what I hear public schools get. I feel very fortunate to get this kind of food here."

When students want a snack, they can help themselves to baskets of fruit placed throughout the campus.

But achieving the ultimate ideal cafeteria comes with a price. Meals are included with the standard $24,800 annual high school tuition. Hailey London, a registered dietitian who was the school's wellness coordinator last year, estimated that breakfast, lunch and a snack costs about $5 per student each day, with about $9 more for labor expenses. She said the cost varies because students are allowed unlimited servings of vegetables.

Ross' first chef, Ann Cooper, who started in 2000, is well-known for transforming cafeterias. Known as the "Renegade Lunch Lady" and the author of the 2006 book "Lunch Lessons," which chronicles a lot of her time at Ross, Cooper is now in charge of food service for the public school system in Berkeley, Calif. Students there pay $3 for lunch, she said. That price is well above the Long Island public school average of $1.66.

"Public schools can do some of the food the Ross School does," she said. "You gotta charge more."

The dining room ambience is a stark contrast to the typical public school cafeteria setting. Gone are the long folding tables and disposable trays and utensils. Instead, students eat off ceramic plates and bowls using real silverware. They sit at circular tables overlooking a wide expanse of trees. There's no separate teacher's lunchroom; students and adults eat together.

Organic milk comes from a Westchester dairy. Organic apple cider is from a local farm. Ninety percent of Ross' produce is grown on an East End or New York State farm.

"It's very expensive to buy organic," said Lisa Smith, manager of operations for Ross' kitchen. "It's all labor. There's so much labor in the meals."

Regan Kiembock, school lunch manager of the Southampton school district, wanted to follow Ross' model. She said she called the school asking about its vendors, but found she simply couldn't afford the organic products.

"I hated to be compared to the Ross School," she said.

Another school on a more even playing field with Ross is the private Waldorf School of Garden City, where students pay between $4 and $5 for lunch.

Chef Aviva Gill said she spent $400 to $1,000 per week last year shopping at local stores such as Trader Joe's and local farm cooperatives, opting for organic meats and wild fish.

Gill prepares about 160 meals daily, with scratch-made soup that is delivered to classrooms from prekindergarten through third grade.

About 10 years ago, a group of parents banded together, demanding revamped food. "They wanted more organic, healthy, no dye, nothing artificial," Gill said.

On one afternoon last school year, lunch was a choice between nachos or tacos with organic ground turkey, black beans, brown rice and fresh guacamole, chunky with avocado, tomato and cilantro.

Eighth-grader Michela Bentel enjoyed a hearty plate of nachos. "I don't usually bring my own lunch," she said. "My parents usually make me eat organic food most of the time."

The snack line features items such as Stonyfield Farms organic yogurt and Oskri vegan bars with coconut and almonds.

Some of the produce is ultra-local. Gill's cooking incorporates herbs and vegetables students grow in the school's garden - part of the curriculum for students in grades 6-8.

On an autumn afternoon last year, a group of eighth-graders knelt in the dirt harvesting beets, Swiss chard and collard greens. Another group shoveled dirt for composting while some students pulled weeds.

"I feel that instead of ordering it from a food company in, say, Oklahoma, we're eating something we created with our own hands," said Spencer Diamond of New Hyde Park.

Before the gardening session, teacher Jeannine Davis held class in a shed that stores wheelbarrows, hoses, spades, shovels and bug spray. She led the students in journal writing, explained how certain plants can be used and reviewed mishaps - like the time they had to replant carrots because they didn't dig deep enough the first time.

A chalkboard listed what needed to be done that day: "Pull Jerusalem artichoke that have flowered. Harvest beets, Swiss chard, collard greens. Wash, tie in bunches, bring to cafeteria."

Herbs were drying on a rack. Gill uses thyme from the garden to make tea for teachers in the winter.

Student horticulture is not limited to the gardening class. Third-graders grow rye, harvest it with a sieve and dry it. They then thresh the rye with wood blocks and take seeds out of the hull. They grind the seeds into flour and use that to make rye bread.

Davis said she'd like more children to experience farming.

"It's my dream to have the children grow their own food and see where it comes from. So many students don't see that," she said. "They don't see the vegetable in the ground and how it looks covered in soil and how you have to clean all the crevices. It just connects them in that way."

Toward the end of the hour-and-a-half class, the students hosed down the vegetables and laid them neatly in a basket. They carried the basket to the kitchen where Gill thanked them and said, "You'll see this in the cafeteria tomorrow."

Sample menu offerings at the WALDORF SCHOOL:

Entrees:

Tacos with ground turkey, black beans, salsa and guacamole made from scratch, sauteed onions and peppers, sour cream and Cheddar cheese

Spinach pie

Salmon, organic brown rice

Shepherd's pie made with ground turkey

Pasta with broccoli and garlic

Roasted chicken and potatoes

Chinese noodles or dumplings, Chinese vegetables

Salad bar changes daily but includes homemade dressings and some combination of the following items:

Mesclun greens

Spinach

Carrots, celery, peppers, cabbage, beets

Seasonal veggies from the student garden

Egg salad

Tuna salad

Roasted squash

Moroccan salad

Baked eggplant

Organic sauerkraut

Sunflower seeds

Flax seeds

Soups change daily and include:

Tomato quinoa

Chickpea

Mexican bean

Chicken noodle (whole wheat or rice noodles)

Corn chowder (nondairy)

Sample menu offerings at the ROSS SCHOOL:

Entrees:

Oven-fried catfish

Hong Kong noodle stir-fry with veggies and tofu

Mussels with rice noodles and Thai coconut sauce

Roast chicken with tomato and lemon vinaigrette

Rice noodle stir-fry with veggies

Tofu with Hoisin sauce

Tofu with BBQ sauce

Tofu with sweet and spicy sauce

Tofu with Asian onion sauce

Pasta with chicken cacciatore sauce

Side dishes:

Roasted asparagus

Sauteed greens

Roasted cauliflower

Millet

Sauteed Swiss chard

Steamed corn

Couscous

Roasted carrots

Steamed broccoli

Salads:

Arugula, Parmesan and pine-nut salad with Balsamic vinaigrette

Greek salad

Sliced ham and cheese

Caesar salad

Soups:

Indian-spiced dahl soup

Asparagus soup