{"id":31443,"date":"2016-02-24T12:31:35","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T18:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=31443"},"modified":"2016-02-24T12:31:35","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T18:31:35","slug":"students-cooking-competition-reimagines-healthy-menus-in-chicago-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/students-cooking-competition-reimagines-healthy-menus-in-chicago-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Cooking Competition Reimagines Healthy Menus in Chicago Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anna Boisseau<\/strong><\/p>\n

Public school students across Chicago had special choices on their lunch menu last Thursday: a Cajun chicken lettuce wrap, roasted corn relish, and peach and yogurt pizza, all invented by four peers in the culinary program at George Washington High School. The young chefs won the city-wide Cooking Up Change competition put on by the Healthy Schools Campaign last October. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe big picture is there is an obesity problem out there that we\u2019re trying to address,\u201d said Guillermo Gomez, the Vice President of Urban Affairs with the Healthy Schools Campaign. He said he sees the Cooking Up Change as a way to innovate school meals. \u201cThe student voice is very important. If we want to create healthier menus, then we should also get participation from the students.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[vimeo 155738879 w=500 h=281]<\/p>\n

Students from George Washington High School won the Cooking Up Change contest by creating a healthy meal on a CPS budget, but some of their classmates still prefer pizza. (Brendan Hickey\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n

Student chef Neidy Mejia said her team used their lunch periods to come up with recipes for the competition. She said it was difficult because they \u201chad to make a dish on about a dollar and couldn\u2019t add any salt or sugar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cooks competed against 15 teams from other schools to create tasty, yet healthy options on a budget that could reasonably be included on a future CPS menu. They will now advance to a national competition in Washington D.C. in June. <\/p>\n

According to Gomez, the winning students will have a chance to speak with their legislators about school menus. \u201cWe are firm believers that by getting the student voice, it\u2019s a key voice for the school district,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cWe thought that by doing this innovative approach of having students prepare healthy recipes\u2026that everyone would win.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to delivering the winning meal in local schools, CPS celebrated the students in a banquet at their high school. Their parents, local politicians and representatives from the USDA were among those in attendance. <\/p>\n

Claudia Perez, a George Washington High School student, said it was a big deal for her school to get positive attention. \u201cPeople think bad about our school. They don\u2019t really know the good that goes on in our school,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I think it\u2019s a good way to let them know that it\u2019s not just a bad school.\u201d <\/p>\n

Her friend Carla Plascencia agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s a honor to be recognized because we really haven\u2019t won anything like that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gomez said the long term goal of Cooking Up Change is to incorporate healthier recipes on public schools\u2019 daily menus. <\/p>\n

But Plascencia said Thursday\u2019s menu was food she wouldn\u2019t normally eat. \u201cI go towards pizza more,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Other students at George Washington seemed to agree with Plascencia. Pizza and hot dogs were still the order of the day. <\/p>\n

Photo at top: George Washington High School Students (left to right) Julian Rivas, Carla Plascencia, and Claudia Perez sample the winning dishes from the Cooking Up Change Competition. (Anna Boisseau\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anna Boisseau Public school students across Chicago had special choices on their lunch menu last Thursday: a Cajun chicken lettuce wrap, roasted corn relish, and peach and yogurt pizza, all invented by four peers in the culinary program at George Washington High School. The young chefs won the city-wide Cooking Up Change competition put […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":31481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nStudents Cooking Competition Reimagines Healthy Menus in Chicago Schools - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/students-cooking-competition-reimagines-healthy-menus-in-chicago-schools\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Students Cooking Competition Reimagines Healthy Menus in Chicago Schools - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Anna Boisseau Public school students across Chicago had special choices on their lunch menu last Thursday: a Cajun chicken lettuce wrap, roasted corn relish, and peach and yogurt pizza, all invented by four peers in the culinary program at George Washington High School. 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