Revamped Menu Tries to Teach Nutritious Lesson

Cold, greasy pizza. Dry hamburgers. Stale nachos loaded with lumps of hardened cheese.

To hear some Venice High School students tell it, the cafeteria was a danger zone--so much so that students would sneak off campus and hit nearby fast-food restaurants for lunch.

But unappetizing trays of food could be a thing of the past.

With necks craning and trays tilted anxiously, students eagerly queued up Tuesday to sample the baked potato bar, vegetarian lasagna and other fare as the school unveiled its new Healthy Meals program. Ten entrees have been added to the cafeteria menu, and the healthier food is being supplemented with classroom discussions about nutrition and a school garden that will produce greens for fresh salads.

“It’s better when you can come to lunch and eat healthy,” said Keiko Clark, 16, as she dug into her baked potato. “You learn better. It’s hard when you eat a nasty lunch.”

The overhaul of Venice High’s cafeteria food is a pilot program sponsored by the Los Angeles Unified School District’s food services branch, the National Potato Promotional Board and Sandy Gooch of Whole Foods Market, formerly Mrs. Gooch’s.

By Oct. 1, Venice High’s 2,300 students will be able to dine on the likes of pasta primavera, Asian cucumber salad and cactus bread. The district, which serves 700,000 meals a day, hopes to make parts of the new menu available at all schools, said Warren Lund, director of food services.

What was so wrong with school lunches in the past?

“Too much fat, too much sugar, not enough freshness--and considering catsup a vegetable,” said Luciana Hardin, a nutritional consultant visiting Venice High classes.

Not only have the standards for school meals changed, but the health consciousness of young people has increased, school officials said.

“If someone were to ask me a year ago if water would sell on this campus, I’d say, ‘You’ve got to be crazy,’ ” said Bud Jacobs, Venice High principal. “But it sells here and at other schools.”