Sherman Oaks : Officials Get a Taste of New School Menu

Encouraged by samplings of vegetarian hors d’oeuvres made by well-known local chefs, Los Angeles school officials have agreed to work with health-food maven Sandy Gooch to revamp the cafeteria menu at a Westside high school in a pilot program to improve meals at city schools.

After a party thrown by Gooch to launch a new “Healthy School Meals Program,” Venice High School administrators are forming an advisory committee of students, cafeteria workers, teachers, parents, Gooch and representatives from area restaurants to develop alternatives to current cafeteria fare. New menu items would emphasize grains and vegetables.

“I don’t know how well goat cheese and focaccia bread will play next to pizzas and hamburgers, but [we want] to see what kind of foods we can introduce and see how the kids react to them and how cost-effective they are,” said Principal Bud Jacobs on Thursday, the morning after he, Venice High faculty members and students attended Gooch’s fete and nibbled on eggplant dip and lentil-walnut pate.

The program was introduced to Jacobs by Gooch, a former schoolteacher who became one of the co-founders of Mrs. Gooch’s Whole Foods Market chain, based in Sherman Oaks. The goal is to upgrade campus cafeteria menus, increasing their health content while staying within the pinched means of the public school system.

Gooch envisions a new menu that moves away from a stress on meat to a Mediterranean-style diet full of vegetables--especially legumes--fruits, olive oil, nuts and dairy products such as yogurt. Those elements could blend well with modifications planned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in nutritional standards for the school meals the federal government funds, said Warren Lund, food services director for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“The USDA is now going through some major changes in terms of what we’re required to do nutrient-wise, and some of this can fit in with that, because the move countrywide is to increase the use of vegetables and the use of grains,” Lund said.