By ALEX COSTELLO
But parents of students in Oceanside and Island Park need not worry, because their children are getting lunches at school that are not only healthy and well-balanced, but are progressive, too.
“We essentially provide, over a five or six day cycle, meals that meet or exceed the nutritional guidelines set by the state,” said Louis Frontario, the assistant superintendent of business for Oceanside. “And we also look at the food pyramid and our wellness policy to try and meld all of those together so we offer what we consider to be highly nutritious and attractive lunches that are easy to eat.”
Lunches served in school cafeterias have come along way in terms of healthfulness since the time many student's parents were in school. Gone are the days of fried foods and things dripping with grease.
“We don’t have deep friers at all,” said Dr. Edward Price, superintendent of schools for Island Park. Students on the lunch line at Francis X. Hegarty Elementary and Lincoln Orens Middle School have the option of taking the hot lunch, which includes a side, or having a salad or sandwich made to order.
Food Service Coordinator for Island Park Schools, Donna Strommer, said if students don't want the hot lunch entree, which is typically something like baked chicken nuggets with a brown rice side, they can opt to have a sandwich or salad. Sandwich options include peanut butter and jelly, turkey, ham, salami, baloney, tuna, or egg salad and are served on a choice of white, wheat, or rye bread or on a roll or bagel. Students could also choose a garden salad or chef salad with a scoop of tuna or egg salad.
"There are a lot of options," said Strommer. "You aren't just being stuck with the hot lunch of the day."
Strommer said that the school tries to find ways to trim calories and fat from the lunch fare. The egg and tuna salads are made with light mayonnaise and are cut with yogurt, she said. The district also makes its tacos with turkey. "We try to look for the healthier alternatives," said Strommer.
Jane Blackburn, director of food services for Oceanside. said students can pick up to five items for lunch, which usually includes two types of vegetables and fresh fruits.
Oceanside has entirely eliminated white flour from the students’ food at the elementary and middle school levels, cutting back on it at the high school level. According to Blackburn, all the bread that the elementary and middle school students are served is now whole wheat, as is the pasta. “All of our pizza for the elementary schools are whole wheat,” Blackburn said. “We don’t use any white crust anymore.” Blackburn also said that they serve whole wheat pizza in the middle school. The reason it isn’t served in the high school is because the high school makes its own pizza, and they dough that they buy is not yet available in whole wheat.
For 7-year-old Alison Abbey, a second grader at School 3 in Oceanside, the pizza the school serves is one of her favorites (except when the cheese falls off), as well as the whole-wheat pasta and baked french fries. She also likes the other healthy options the school provides.
"It's not really candy, it's healthy stuff," Alison said. "It's apples and salads." Alison also said that eating well at school made her want to eat better at home.
Samantha Cinetti, an 8-year-old third grader at School 5 in Oceanside likes most of the food the school serves, but didn't realize it was healthy. Pizza is one of her at-school favorites. "And the tacos, too," she said. Samantha doesn't eat the salads, but she sometimes eats and enjoys the fruits the school serves.
Like Island Park, Oceanside schools also bake all of the foods that used to be fried. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries are now all baked as part of state dietary guidelines. The only school in Oceanside that has fried foods is the high school, which serves french fries that are actually fried. The reason for this, Blackburn says, is because the high school has an open campus for juniors and seniors, meaning that they can leave during their free periods, so the cafeteria competes with outside lunch venues.
“We’re really competing with everything that’s available in this area,” said Blackburn. “That’s really one of our biggest reasons. We try to keep the kids in. And, truthfully, they’ll walk right down the block and get anything that we don’t serve.”
It isn’t always easy to balance taste and health, but it is essential for a successful lunch program. “If they’re just going to throw it in the trash can,” Price said, “then it really isn’t a very good investment for the children.”
Amanda Hoffmann contributed to this story.
Comments about this story? ACostello@
liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.
