Brooklyn Center Schools Freshen Lunch Menu, Add Diverse Options
Cook Novellette Murray used a large white paddle to stir a concoction never-before served in the Brooklyn Center Elementary School cafe.
She’s preparing a meal using a recipe she brought from home.
“This is a Jamaican dish,” she said. “I’m from the islands, I’m from Jamaica. I’ve been cooking for 34 years of my life. And I love to bless people with my cooking.”
Intermingled with the chicken wings in the pan are potatoes, scallions, mixed veggies and thyme. She’s preparing jerk chicken at two different spice levels — one to serve to younger students and one for high schoolers.
The mix of spice levels are fitting for a school where students come from a wide array of backgrounds.
“We have a real diverse student body,” said Ben Hanson, food service director for Brooklyn Center Community Schools. “We try to make them feel seen, so they’re not just getting the basic, you know, Americanized food every day, they’re seeing some variety.”
This isn’t the lunch staff’s first foray into fresh food.
“We try to look at the menu and see what we can make from scratch,” Hanson said. “You know, we want to do as little processed foods as possible.”
In some cases, that means browning ground beef and cutting veggies in-house for spaghetti instead of ordering the sauce ready to eat.
Novellette Murray lays out scratch-made jerk chicken on a sheet pan in the Brooklyn Center Elementary cafe.
In others, it means introducing a new for familiar cultural dish to the menu.
These fresh meals take considerably more effort than a frozen affair.
“It starts probably two, three days before we serve the meal,” Hanson said. “We pull the meat out, we thaw it out, we’re prepping the vegetables the day before, we’re seasoning it the day before, letting it sit overnight.”
But it’s worth the extra effort — Hanson says more students eat the district’s fresh meals than the frozen.
“Oh, we’ve gotten great feedback, you know, they’ve been saying they love it. From the students, from the staff,” he said.
District officials also survey students to see which meals they like best, and which they’d like to see added to the menu.
High-quality meals also help students outside the lunchroom.
“When you’re eating healthier scratch cooking, you feel better,” Hanson said. “You know, we want these kids to succeed throughout the day.”
Back in the kitchen, Murray doesn’t mind the extra work. For her, serving kids is a labor of love.
“The children are our future, we’ve got to take care of the little ones,” she said.
See also: Brooklyn Center Elementary Unveils New Mural and Playground
Brooklyn Center High School
