LAUSD Launches Innovative Student-Created School Menus

With the new school year just around the corner, the Los Angeles Unified School District is unveiling an exciting array of menu options for students. The updated offerings are set to greet returning students next week.

Many of these culinary additions have been crafted with guidance from student chefs, highlighting a commitment to using farm-fresh ingredients, according to LA Unified.

Among the enticing new dishes are chicken pozole, butter chicken accompanied by kachumber salad, lasagna rolls, pork katsu sandwiches, and vegan blueberry muffins.

This past Saturday, West Adams Preparatory High School buzzed with excitement as students, parents, and LAUSD officials gathered for a preview of the new menu.

“Students also had the chance to savor locally-grown California fruits and vegetables through our Farm to School Farmer’s Harvest program,” shared the Los Angeles Unified on their Instagram page.

Daniel Sandoval led the amateur culinary team behind the winning dish: Butter chicken and kachumber salad. “We just want to represent everybody in our culture and make delicious food,” he said.

He told ABC News that the dish stood out because of “traditional Indian spices such as turmeric and curry spice.”

Bringing star power to the menu, celebrity chefs helped craft a range of new offerings, from a chorizo breakfast bowl and pork katsu sandwich to an LA cheesesteak and lasagna rolls.

LAUSD Superintendent Andres E. Chait said that school meals of decades ago are a distant memory thanks to the district’s work with local growers, which now brings fresh fruits and vegetables straight to students’ plates.

“Our second brain is our gut, so if we’re feeding our kids well they can learn better and they’ll be in school more often,” he said.

He was also pleasantly surprised to see some traditional dishes on the school menu. “If you had told me 30 years ago that we would have pozole on the menu, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Chait told the news outlet.

The LAUSD serves more than half a million meals every school day.

“By listening to our students and partnering with California farmers, we’re bringing fresh ingredients and nutritious meals to schools,” Los Angeles Unified said.

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