Photo by Whitney Pipkin
Salad bars come to Fairfax County schools.
The 6- and 7-year-olds lining up before a newly installed salad bar in their school cafeteria are having a hard time deciding: Carrots or broccoli? Oranges or grapes?
But getting to choose is the point of an effort, now well underway, to bring salad bars to every elementary school in Fairfax County.
“Being able to provide these options and allowing students to decide for themselves is huge,” says Morgan Maloney, food services program specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools’ food and nutrition services.
Maloney has been making her way to each of the county’s 141 elementary schools since the beginning of last school year, introducing lunchroom staff, teachers and students to the new offerings.
Several Alexandria-area schools already have the salad bars, including Bucknell, Groveton, Mount Eagle and Mount Vernon Woods elementary schools. Fort Hunt Elementary School will get its salad fix in early March, and every elementary school in the county will have them by the spring of 2021.
Photo by Whitney Pipkin
Salad bars come to Fairfax County Public Schools
“The way it showcases fruits and vegetables is more like a real-world experience for them,” says Kevin Morris, assistant principal at Groveton Elementary School. “Now they can choose how much broccoli they want on their tray and where it goes on their tray. That’s a big deal to a kid.”
The salad program allows schools to meet federal nutrition guidelines for fruits and vegetables in a new way that makes choosing and consuming them more fun for students. Many of the schools previously offered fruits and vegetables, such as canned green beans, in pre-portioned cups and after they had filled their trays with hot food. Maloney says that approach left many students adding the vegetables just to comply.
During a visit to one of the schools on its second day with the salad bar, students were still getting used to gripping the tongs—more than a few hardboiled eggs slipped onto the floor—but seemed to enjoy the autonomy of making what Maloney calls “a colorful plate.” Lunchroom staff encouraged some to add orange slices to meet the half-cup requirement and answered questions.
Photo by Whitney Pipkin
Salad bars come to Fairfax County Public Schools
The pint-sized salad bar offers eight bins filled with a salad mix of spinach, kale and romaine, fresh-cut fruits, crudité-style vegetables and proteins such as black beans, hardboiled eggs and yogurt. Students entering the lunchroom pass through the salad bar first, filling at least one of their tray’s squares with a serving of produce before continuing to hot food and a la carte options.
Students also have the option to make an entire meal out of the salad bar.
“They can take as much as they like from the salad bar; one square is the minimum,” says Maloney, who spends a week at each school rolling out the new program.
Photo by Whitney Pipkin
Salad bars come to Fairfax County Public Schools
Before this position, Maloney worked for almost five years leading school field trips to the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture in Alexandria. That experience taught her there’s no reason to assume children won’t eat kale—if they’re introduced to it in a thoughtful way, whether that’s at a farm or on a pick-your-own salad bar.
With the salad bar, Maloney says, “They can mix and match what’s on their plate, which encourages them to actually eat what they’ve chosen.”
Want to see the salad bar come to your child’s school sooner? Asking the school’s principal to request it can move a school up in the queue.
