District picks new company for lunches.

Byline: THE HEALTH FILES By Tim Christie The Register-Guard

As Gretchen Elliott, kitchen manager at Awbrey Park Elementary School, prepares lunch for students, she remembers what her mother used to tell her.

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink," she said.

In Elliott's case, she can put out all the carrots and grapes she wants, but she can't make the kids eat them.

But that doesn't mean she's going to stop trying.

"We just keep encouraging them," she said. "If they even try it, we're doing good."

Getting kids to eat - and to eat healthful food - is a growing concern for school officials. And it's partly what motivated Eugene School District officials to hire a new company to coordinate food services in the district.

After 10 years with service provided by Aramark, the district picked Sodexho, a Maryland-based giant in the food service industry, to run the food program this year, said Hillary Kittleson, the district's finance and support services director.

District officials wanted a contractor that could offer more healthful food for students and get more kids to eat so they'd be better prepared to learn, she said. The district also wanted the food program to pay for itself, she said.

Sodexho officials have guaranteed that the food program will be in the black this year, Kittleson said.

While Sodexho aims to provide more healthful, better quality food, it also intends to do a better job of selling food to students. Schools have sent home slickly produced lunch menus, provided by Sodexho, so parents can see what's offered on a particular day, and each school cafeteria now has colorful signs and banners to make them a more appealing place for kids.

"What we're trying to do is make it more of a cafe orientation, like going to a real restaurant," said Nicole Lalor, a registered dietitian and one of three Sodexho employees who run the food program out of the district office.

"We don't want to call it the school cafeteria. ... We want to make it an atmosphere they want to be in."

In elementary schools, the cafeterias are now called Kids Way Cafes. In middle school, students eat at the Energy Download Zone. High school students are noshing at the Crossroads Cafe.

Menu offerings change for different grade levels. Elementary students might be offered more finger foods; high schoolers get more fast-food style "grab-and-go" offerings, such as salad shakers and prewrapped sandwiches.

Another change Sodexho is making is menu uniformity: What's offered on a given day at one elementary school is the same at all other elementary schools. A menu committee made up of kitchen coordinators from each of the schools will meet regularly to talk about what's selling and offer suggestions for new menu items.

Sodexho plans to offer five entrees each day, and by October, two of the five will be vegetarian offerings. Elementary students are also encouraged to load up at the "offering bar," stocked with fresh and canned fruits and vegetables such as raw carrots and broccoli, pineapple, grapes, lettuce, and the ubiquitous ranch dressing.

Ranch dressing is the popular condiment at many elementary schools - students use it to dip everything from carrot sticks to pizza.

Lalor said making healthy foods available for students is the best thing that schools can do. Parents need to do their part by encouraging their children to take a fruit and vegetable along with the hot dog or pizza.

Students at Awbrey Park Elementary School seemed to like the new offerings, though some said they couldn't tell the difference from last year's food. Last Thursday, the entree offerings were cheese pizza, turkey gravy and mashed potatoes, a turkey dog, and a ham and cheese sandwich. Pizza was the clear favorite.

Kaya Khalatbari, a fifth-grader, polished off a turkey dog with ketchup, washed down with some chocolate milk. She passed on the fruits and vegetables.

"I think the hot dogs are really good, but they need to work on their pizza," she said. "It's too greasy and they make the crust too doughy - I don't think they cook it enough."

Fourth-grader Ryan Norwood liked the pizza, eating two slices plus some orange juice and chocolate milk. He likes getting hot lunches at school. "There's always something good that I like," he said.

But he, too, skipped the fruits and vegetables because, he said, "I know I wouldn't eat it."

Third-grader Ashony Bohanan, on the other hand, was happily chomping on carrots, grapes and pineapple along with a slice of pizza.

"I like fruit and vegetables a real lot," she said.

Some kids prefer to bring lunches from home. Kaya Khalatbari, the fifth-grader, said that's the way to go.

"It's better to get cold lunches because your mom knows exactly what you like," she said.

Tim Christie can be reached at 338-2572 or tchristie@ guardnet.com.