Chef Ann Cooper, aka “The Renegade Lunch Lady,” is partnering with Whole Foods to bring better food to our children’s lunch rooms.

Called the Great American Salad Bar Project, the campaign began last week and seeks to raise funds to put a salad bar in each of almost 300 schools that are within 50 miles of a Whole Foods store.  Donations can be made when you check out at any Whole Foods store, or online.

Schools interested in receiving one of the salad bars can apply for a grant through a non-profit arm of Chef Ann’s Lunch Box foundation.  Applications will be available online starting September 1, 2010.  A copy is here.  According to the website, “[g]rant awards will be based on need, potential for impact, commitment to the program and potential for future viability when the grant period has ended.”

As the campaign points out, “[b]y utilizing USDA commodity brown box items like diced chicken, tuna, egg products and grain products the salad bar reinvents itself as a reimbursable meal. Using the bar to introduce children to food in their raw state and educate students palates by offering some special seasonal salads makes fast work of transforming your cafeteria into a classroom enjoyed by all every day.”

I plan to write more about salad bars on The Lunch Tray in the near future.  School districts — including my own — often dismiss salad bars as wasteful and expensive, but I’ve read that they’re usually well-received by children, especially when there’s an education component to the salad bar’s introduction.

In the meantime, while the pending child nutrition legislation in Congress seeks to raise federal reimbursement for school meals by a mere six cents — rather than the one dollar advocated by reformers like Chef Ann — we need to exploit every opportunity to bring more funds to schools.    Thank you, Chef Ann and Whole Foods for this effort.

Tagged as: Chef Ann Cooper, food at school, Great American Salad Bar Project, reform, salad bars, Whole Foods