Good news, good food coming out of Sonoma’s school kitchens

Sonoma’s food services director Cody Williams is shaking things up in school kitchens across the district and students and staff seem to have a voracious appetite for the changes.

Adele Harrison Middle School has a new kitchen in the works including a combination freezer refrigerator unit that was installed last month. A new four-burner stove and hot food holding box will enable more onsite food production and a new dishwasher is on order. Most equipment upgrades are from grant money awarded to the school site and district.

Menus have been simplified and copies were sent home in the students welcome back packets. Along the perimeter of the lunchroom are laminated photos of local agriculture and livestock that Williams hopes will provide a sense of pride in this region and the foods we produce.

Adele has also welcomed additional staff for four hours each morning to assist with the production of healthy school meals. These meals are prepared in part using an 80-page cookbook that Williams compiled over the summer break. These from-scratch cooking recipes will be used to prepare an array of new “specials” for students and staff.

“Once we determine which specials are the most popular we will simply rotate them onto the menu,” explained Williams. Some of the items being tested include chicken tostadas with homemade guacamole and turkey pesto focaccia melts. Eliminating some of the less popular traditional items will enable the staff to spend more time on specials.

Earlier this month, the district offered new items to the Adele staff to try for free as a promotion for the week and welcomed their feedback.

The Adele kitchen is even offering build-your-own parfaits and 20th Century pastries (six ingredients each with no additives or preservatives) like muffins and fresh baked scones.

Altimira Middle School and Sonoma Valley High School are currently or will soon undergo the same upgrades.

Up next for Williams, he will celebrate his first year on the job by presenting a session on Food Concepts at this year’s CSNA (California School Nutrition Association) conference held in November in Sacramento.