How did the school meal program at Calhoun get started offering healthy options?
Chef Bobo answers: “At Calhoun, our story is fairly straightforward and incredible only insofar as the success of its outcome. Three parents got together in 1999 over lunch, happy that they would no longer have to pack lunch every day but worried about the fact that their kids would be beholden to the school’s institutional lunch program in the coming year. Concerns they voiced ranged from the quality of the ingredients to the atmosphere within which lunch was served. “There was, per se, nothing unusually wrong with the lunch program… at least at the time. It was provided by a standard food service company that serviced many of New York City’s private schools. There were choices every day, including a hot lunch. But after analysis, it was determined that much was overly processed, out of a can, loaded with corn syrup, and laden with numerous multi-syllable preservatives. “After some period of discussion, the parents concluded that it would be irresponsible to put the issue to the sid
