Lynchburg City Schools transforms nutrition for school meals

Lynchburg, Virginia – The standard for providing high-quality school meals is being raised by Lynchburg City Schools. It’s collaborating with chefs to add a fresh, healthier flavor to students’ meals.

LCS Deputy Superintendent Reid Wodika stated, “We’re making sure our school food is as healthy, nutritious, and tasty as it can be.”

The days of cafeteria employees reheating frozen food to serve students are long gone. As the school division collaborates with food service provider Brigaid to serve kids wholesome, homemade meals, Lynchburg City Schools is bidding adieu to prepackaged foods.

Through our colleague groups in other regions of the nation, we have learned of Brigaid, a rapidly expanding organization. In Virginia, we are the first to provide this service. We are the first in Virginia to guarantee that our pupils eat food prepared from scratch every single day. We wanted to bring Brigaid to Lynchburg because we believe that the children in Lynchburg deserve it, and we knew that the organization is doing amazing work across the nation,” Wodika added.

Brigaid places qualified chefs with experience in the culinary arts in schools all around the nation. They give nutrition workers practical instructions on how to prepare nutritious meals for every student.

We practice safe cooking techniques and knife skills a lot so that each recipe becomes a little bit simpler. Compared to my previous experiences, this one has been completely different. “There are a lot of different skill and experience levels in school nutrition,” Brigaid Program Chef Hannah Breig remarked.

From pasta salad to wraps, barbecue sauce, and more, Breig works full-time with schools around LCS to realize its goal for school nutrition. Locally produced ingredients are used to build a more sophisticated menu that experiments with new dishes.

“Kind of offering comforting meals along with new flavors.” Something they may not see every day, but kids are aware of,” Breig said, “and I believe that everyone who works in the schools tries to show love via their meals.

Staff members now have an incentive to enjoy cooking in the kitchen thanks to this new nutrition program.

“I believe they take pride in their work and can see a difference. Opening a package and heating it up is a little different. Instead of saying, “Oh, I just warmed it up today,” they’re saying, “Oh, I made this,” Breig remarked.

The new cuisine has been adored by the children. Students have taken an active interest in and loved the new recipes that we have gradually introduced. In addition to considering daily academics and other aspects of student development, we are enthusiastic about considering the whole child and how we can support our students’ bodies as well as their brains, ensuring that they grow up learning about wholesome foods and leading happy, healthy lives, Wodika said.

In February, Linkhorne and Sandusky Middle Schools will host two Community Dinners hosted by LCS so that the public can sample the freshly prepared meals being provided to students.