Take Your Family to Lunch Day at Hanover Elementary

It’s National School Lunch Week, and students at Hanover Elementary celebrated Wednesday by inviting a family member to lunch in the school cafeteria. Moms, dads, grandparents and other guardians found out that school lunch has come a long way from the days of fish sticks and French fries.

School cafeteria staff got into the fiesta spirit of the event, dressing up in sombreros and serving rice and beans and tacos, among other healthy options.

To make the experience fun for the kids, student volunteers from the Venture program donned apple and carrot costumes and shared silly fruit and vegetable jokes. The Venture program is Meriden’s alternative education option for students who fare better in a nontraditional classroom.

“I like helping the kids,” said Louis Cifone, a junior in the program. Cifone said he has battled weight issues himself and wanted to help other kids learn how to avoid obesity. “It’s better to prevent it,” he added.

Hanover Principal Miguel Cardona also got in on the fun. “Your parents don’t even know how to line up in the cafeteria. Do you believe that?” he asked the kids as he called them up by classroom to join the lunch line.

As part of National School Lunch Week, Meriden schools are serving one new healthy food item a day all week. Wednesday, in keeping with the fiesta theme, it was Rainbow Bean Salsa. The day before, students tried sweet potato bites.

“Acceptance was really good,” reported Meriden Schools Food Service Director Susan Maffé. The plan is to make the new items a permanent part of the schools’ healthy offerings, she added.

“It’s a fun way to get them to try new foods,” Cardona said of Wednesday’s event. “It adds to the positive atmosphere here.”

Take your family to lunch was just one of several National School Lunch Week activities planned for this week in Meriden. Others include Lucky Tray Day at different elementary schools each day (one winner per lunch wave), “I tried it!” stickers for kids who taste new fruits and vegetables, and nutrition-themed coloring books.

Maffé also gave family members a flier to fill them in on some of the healthy changes in the Meriden school lunch program. For instance:

• Each lunch option includes at least two fruit and vegetable choices.
• Almost all the grains served are whole grains.
• Milk products are 1% fat or lower.
• Cheeses are reduced fat and sodium varieties.
• The schools serve Dreamfields pasta, which has 2.5 times the fiber of regular pasta.

All these changes have helped Meriden keep pace with or stay ahead of changing USDA school nutrition guidelines, Maffé said.