Chefs help craft healthier school lunches with local food
By Nanci Hellmich/USA TODAY
On his first day on the job as director of food and nutrition for Baltimore City Schools, chef Tony Geraci brought in 40,000 pounds of tree-ripened, Maryland-grown peaches for students. On that day two years ago, he sat in the cafeteria with several second-graders who were eating fresh peaches for the first time in their lives. "One was rubbing a peach along his face, and I said, 'It's supposed to feel like that,' " Geraci remembers. "Another was breathing into the peach, and I said, 'It's supposed to smell like that.' Another was biting into the peach, and the juice was running down his face and arms, and I said, 'It's supposed to taste like that.' (more...)