New York Times Article by Ariel Kaminer

Article excerpt.

Listening to that national conversation from New York, you might wonder, what took them so long? School lunches in the city began a radical transformation six or seven years ago, with the Department of Education’s decision to think of them as food rather than as a government service. From there, it made sense to regard the cafeterias as restaurants, and the children as customers.

“If you have a restaurant,” says Jorge Collazo, the department’s executive chef, “you don’t keep offering dishes your customers don’t buy.” So out with the mystery meat and the boiled noodles in ketchup. But making the food taste better — and look and smell better — was only part of the challenge.

Whatever scary memories the lunch line summons for you, in New York today it can be a surprisingly enlightened place, with whole-grain pasta, salad bars, fresh fruit and low-fat, low-sodium recipes. No fried food, no artificial ingredients, no trans fats.

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