Photography by Jonathan Gayman
How can you make sure your kids are eating balanced, healthy meals at school? If you’re Marc Del Pietro, chef and co-owner of The Block, whose children attend Our Lady of Lourdes School, you become “cafeteria chef,” a first for this—or maybe any—local parochial school. Fresh food has replaced processed, silverware has replaced plastic, and the response has been phenomenal: 180 former brown-baggers now walk the line each day to feast on chicken alfredo pasta and pulled pork with cheesy potatoes. And this chef’s not above resorting to a mom tactic: “I serve turkey burgers and just call them ‘burgers,’ and I’ve been known to sneak a little butternut-squash purée into the mac and cheese.”
Just down the street, Washington University was recently ranked among the top five universities in the U.S. for campus food by The Princeton Review. After a recent tour of schools in the northeast, campus executive chef John Griffiths referred to Wash. U. as “one of a kind” and hopes to “groom the next generation” by strictly adhering to local and sustainable dining practices. That’s no small task when 14 campus dining outlets are involved, including a full-service restaurant, Ibby’s, where nearly every item—including alcohol—is locally sourced. The university also participates in an aggressive recycling and composting program, as well as a biofuel program where fryer oil is collected and processed, combined with diesel fuel, then sold back to the university as biodiesel, on which all newer campus delivery trucks run. Gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, low-fat, halal, and kosher meal options are all available on campus. And in the works for this year: pour-over coffee options and a ramen bar.
