Cooking up Change National Healthy Cooking Contest
Challenges Students to Reinvent School Lunch
Two Ways to Get Involved Now
Finalists in the 2010 national healthy cooking contest
What's your idea of the perfect school lunch? Imagine a healthy, tasty meal made within the constraints of school food service–designed by students whose peers will love it.
HSC is pleased to announce the Cooking up Change National Healthy Cooking Contest. The contest challenges teams of high school students to create a healthful and delicious school lunch that meets nutrition standards based on the Institute of Medicine’s latest recommendations and can easily be replicated in a real school food service environment.
Student entries will help raise national awareness of the need for healthy, delicious school food, and give students the opportunity to be part of an important national dialogue. The 2011 contest offers two ways to get cooking:
- Host a local Cooking up Change contest. HSC can help a select number of cities host a local competition; the winners from this local contest will proceed to the nationals! Learn more here »
- Enter online. Teams of students can also sign up to compete in the online portion of the contest, submitting recipes and photos to be reviewed by a panel of chefs. Learn more here »
Six teams of finalists selected from these preliminary rounds will present their lunches to a prestigious panel of judges at the contest finals in Washington, DC in May 2011!
This contest is generously sponsored by Chartwells School Dining Services, Cooking up Change Platinum Sponsor and Dannon, Cooking up Change Gold Sponsor. The contest is generously supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and hosted by the USDA.
Winning Cooking up Change Lunch Served in Chicago Public High Schools
Congratulations to the Student Chefs!
Richards Career Academy Cooking up Change team with HSC President and CEO Rochelle Davis (left) and USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Janey Thornton (right)
Congratulations to the culinary students of Richards Career Academy! The lunch they created for the Cooking up Change Healthy Cooking Contest was served Jan. 24 in public high schools across Chicago – to more than 20,000 students!
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| Students at Richards Career Academy enjoy a healthy lunch designed by their peers |
Janey Thornton, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, traveled from Washington, DC to extend her congratulations and enjoy the award-winning lunch with the student chefs at Richards.
Healthy Schools Campaign extends congratulations to the Richards Career Academy culinary team for this remarkable achievement:
Students: Gerardo Garcia, Ruby Gutierrez, Claudia Ramirez, Lidia Sanchez
Instructors: Mark Soltis, Katy Walsh
Team Mentor: Chef Paul Molina
At Cooking up Change on Nov. 4, 2010, teams of student chefs from Chicago Public Schools wowed judges and guests with their creativity in crafting healthy, tasty school meals while bringing attention to the challenges that schools face in serving healthy lunches on incredibly tight budgets.
"What inspired us was that we wanted a meal which was both healthy and delicious," said team member Lidia Sanchez. "We were all energized and inspired."
The Richards team’s meal features:
Afro-Caribe Plancha: A toasty panini melted with turkey, black beans and cheese
Soup of Sunshine: A bright, fragrant soup of squash, apples, tomatoes and cilantro
Caribbean Crunch Salad: A fresh and zesty salad with apples, oranges and cucumbers
"Cooking up Change spotlights student creativity and talent," said Rochelle Davis, HSC President and CEO. "It also gives students a real voice in shaping the future of school food, something that affects their health and learning so directly on a daily basis."
Through the contest and the focus on healthy school meals, the students’ work connects with national efforts to change the future of school food, particularly in light of First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to reverse childhood obesity and new policies set by the 2010 reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.
"At Healthy Schools Campaign, we envision a future for school food where fresh, healthy meals are the norm,” said Davis. “I am proud to say that with their creativity and commitment to healthy eating, all the students who take part in Cooking up Change – the culinary professionals of tomorrow – are working to make that vision a reality."
Chicago Mayoral Candidates to Discuss School Wellness at HSC's Educational Forum
As Chicagoans prepare to elect their next mayor, parents across the city are asking how the candidates’ policies will affect the health and education of students attending Chicago Public Schools (CPS), particularly in light of the significant role that health disparities play in student learning and the city’s education achievement gap.
Chicago has been a national model in responding to First Lady Michelle Obama’s call for schools to play a key role in reversing the childhood obesity epidemic, recently unveiling new school lunch menus and a range of health-promoting policies, and was the first major school district in the nation to implement a comprehensive environmental action plan prioritizing healthy indoor environments for children. At this key juncture in the city’s work to prioritize student wellness, the next mayor’s policies regarding school health will have an important impact on children’s well-being and success at school.
To address these questions, Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) is convening a nonpartisan educational forum on Feb. 4 to meet the 2011 Chicago mayoral candidates and hear about their priorities for student health and wellness in Chicago Public Schools.
This mayoral election has drawn national attention; HSC's forum highlights the increasingly prominent role of school health and wellness in public policy dialogue at both the local and national levels.
Invited speakers:
- Gery Chico*
- Miguel del Valle*
- Rahm Emanuel
- Carol Moseley Braun
- Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins *
- William "Dock" Walls*
* Confirmed
Remarks from each of the candidates will be available online shortly after the forum.
If you are in the Chicago area and are interested in attending the forum, please click here for details. |
