PORT ANGELES — It was tasting day Friday at the Port Angeles High School cafeteria and WSU Clallam County Extension Farm to School consultant Stacey Larsen beckoned students with samples of a new ranch dressing dipping sauce and broccoli served three ways: roasted red pepper garlic, roasted sesame garlic and raw.
The small paper plates of vegetables quickly disappeared from the cart as Larsen hurried to replace them.
High school junior Tucker Swain took two plates of the spicy red pepper garlic version.
“Our coach is cracking down on us to eat healthier,” said Swain, a wide receiver on the football team.
The positive reception to the sampling was a reflection of efforts since last fall by Larsen and Stephanie Bry, the Port Angeles School District’s Sodexo food service director, to introduce students to new flavors, encourage healthy eating by offering wholesome options that appeals to their taste preferences and integrates locally grown produce into the 3,000 meals the district prepares and serves every day.
They are also developing new recipes and revising existing ones to comply with updated USDA nutrition standards for school meal programs. Those revised standards include limiting added sugars and reducing sodium but allow for greater flexibility in menu planning. The new standards will begin to take effect in 2025-26 and will be phased in through 2027-2028.
Starting a program now of improving the nutritional quality and variety of the food it serves isn’t just in the best interests of students, Bry and Larsen said, but it eases the transition to new USDA standards for both staff and students.
The district’s desire to take advantage of the wealth of local foods was given a boost in September 2023, when it was awarded a two-year, $109,000 Healthy Meals Incentives grant. The funds pay for fresh produce, like the 120 pounds of broccoli from Chi’s Farm used in the Friday tasting.
Bry said Joy Farm and River Run Farm also were supplying vegetables, and she is looking for more farms that are interested in working with the district.
The grant also paid for training for kitchen staff in basic culinary and knife skills. It will fund the purchase of blenders, food processors and fruit wedge cutters to reduce prep time for the increased amount of raw ingredients the district is now using in its scratch cooking.
“The staff have been totally on board,” Bry said. “Some of them have been here 20 or 30 years and they remember when things used to be like this.”
The tastings held every month at the high school and throughout the year at the district’s seven other schools are a good way to gauge student preferences, Larsen said. For example, students generally prefer vegetables served roasted rather than raw (which proved true with the broccoli).
Bry and Larsen learned from a survey that students — especially at the high school — want more spicy food.
They’ve implemented feedback from students to create new menu items.
“I made a cauliflower curry with potatoes and the kids really liked it,” Larsen said.
Harvest of the Month tastings to reinforce the connections among schools, food and health that began this month with tomato and cucumber salad will continue with cauliflower in October, squash in November and pears in December. On Oct. 2, there will be a special tasting to highlight local apples at the high school.
The meals schools prepare are generally more nutritious than lunches students bring from home or from takeout, Bry said. Students who take advantage of school meals are more likely to consume milk, fruits and vegetables and less likely to eat desserts, snacks and non-milk beverages.
“Students must take a half-cup fruit or vegetables or a quarter-cup dried fruit” with every meal, Bry said. Water and low-fat milk are the only beverage options unless a student opts to pay for Izze sparkling juice or Propel water.
It is critical that students have access to healthy school meals because hunger and food insecurity are very real issues in Port Angeles, Bry said. These undermine learning because students who are hungry have less energy, more trouble focusing and greater behavioral challenges than their peers, according to the USDA and the Food Research & Action Center, a nonprofit that advocates for policy solutions to poverty-related hunger.
On Tuesday, Bry and Larsen learned Port Angeles received a Healthy Meals Incentives grant nutrition education award for its innovative nutrition activities that engaged students and parents.
Bry, Larsen and Danielle Carson, WSU Clallam County Extension Community Health and SNAP Education Coordinator, will travel to Las Vegas on Oct. 21-23 to meet other school food leaders to discuss strategies for improvement and for promoting their programs.
All students enrolled in Port Angeles schools — no matter the household income — are eligible for free breakfast and lunch through the Community Eligibility Provision, a USDA grant program that allows schools in low-income areas to offer free meals to all students.
Nonetheless, many parents and students are still unaware there is no charge for breakfast and lunch, Bry said. There is no filling out forms, no embarrassment at being unable to pay, no reduced fees. Just free.
As much as Bry, Larsen and the team are putting effort into creating healthy meals, they also know they must work with students’ preferences. Burgers and pizza, albeit made with low-fat ingredients and whole grains, attract long lines, while there’s no waiting at the salad or make-your-own ramen bars.
Lowering the amount of sugar in food, particularly at breakfast, is of particular concern to parents, Bry said. The USDA initially had sought to restrict flavored milks like chocolate, which are the largest source of added sugars in school meals. However, it backtracked after pressure from the dairy industry. Instead, the USDA will enforce a limit on the amount of added sugar in the milk.
The district no longer serves chocolate milk at breakfast, and it’s still experimenting with meal options that will be low in sugar and appeal to students who want a sugary start to the day. Warm, nutritious homemade breakfast sandwiches were a flop.
“We’re still trying to figure that one out,” Bry said.
Nutrislice app
This fall, the Port Angeles School District debuted a new app that displays menus, detailed nutritional values like calories, ingredients, special diet information about food allergens and gluten-free and vegetarian options.
All of the information on the app can be translated into more than 50 languages.
Meals can be added to a nutritional calculator that tallies up details like carbohydrate counts and ingredients so students and parents can make informed decisions about meal choices.
Port Angeles School District’s Sodexo food service director Stephanie Bry said the app is a valuable tool for students and their families.
“For athletes, there’s information about protein and fats,” Bry said. “Students with diabetes can use it to count carbohydrates.”
The free Nutrislice app can be downloaded to a smartphone; the same information also can be found online at tinyurl.com/2djckws4.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
