Students try something new for lunch

In October, students attending West Valley public schools had the option to purchase a lunch made without meat.

During the last week of September and throughout the month of October, at both breakfast and lunchtime, students at all 63 elementary schools within the Granite School District were served items from a “Meatless Mondays” menu created to emphasize fruits and vegetables.

Granite School District Director of Food Services Jeff Gratton said the mostly vegetarian menu was designed to help the students learn more about alternative options for healthy eating.

“We felt like [Meatless Mondays] was something really positive for our students, really educational,” Gratton said.

For five weeks, students were offered familiar meatless menu items such as quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, bean burritos, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or lasagna at lunchtime. There were new items created especially for the Meatless Monday menu as well, such as cheese ravioli.

For breakfast, students were offered hot oatmeal with blueberries, as well as cereal or waffles.

The Meatless Mondays program was inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to promote a healthy diet and exercise for children nationwide.

The program is also part of a larger international initiative of The Mondays Campaign in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

According to information provided by the Granite School District on the website, the participation in the Meatless Mondays program was intended to “[promote] healthy behaviors, help students increase their intake of wholesome grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, and educate consumers and give them options.”

Additional information on Meatless Mondays was provided during the school day to students attending West Valley elementary schools and on the Granite School District website.

Parents were notified by letter about the Meatless Mondays program at the beginning of the school year.

Gratton said the Meatless Mondays program was not a cost-cutting measure for the school district. He said the school district had received some negative feedback from concerned parents about the program, but that overall the response had been mostly positive.

“We thought people really loved it,” Gratton said.

All of the elementary school throughout the district – including local schools Academy Park, Philo T. Farnsworth, Robert Frost, Hillsdale, Hillside, Hunter, Jackling, Monroe, Pioneer, Redwood, Carl Sandburg, Silver Hills, Valley Crest and West Valley Elementary – were served the same menu on Meatless Mondays.