Chefs in the Classroom, healthy eating on the brain
Jenn Harris | 11-10-2009 | Comments | | Print this Page

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“Cheetos are not a meal” and other lessons in the campaign for healthy eating



A gourmet chef recently visited the teacher’s lounge at the Ellen Ochoa Learning Center Middle School in Cudahy, a working class community sandwiched between South Gate and Downey. Teachers with whistles around their necks, and with pencils in hand and notebooks in front of them, sat at round tables chatting loudly about the end of the school day. Armed with fresh bell peppers, corn, tomatoes and zucchini, Chef Billie Sutton stood before them with a new kind of lesson in mind, ready to make a difference in school diets that have veered from healthy.

The school is located just feet away from a Carl's Jr. and a short mile from two McDonalds and Taco Bell. The students at this middle school don’t have a market within walking distance or a store that sells much more than candy and Cheetos. The streets are not lined with ads for health food, and there is no one to advocate for eating an apple instead of a Snickers at lunchtime. But what the students do have is Chef Sutton from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Network for a Healthy California’s Chefs in the Classroom program.

The program is designed to help students make better eating choices by sending professional chefs to 110 schools across Los Angeles. The chefs conduct cooking demonstrations with fruits and vegetables and offer helpful tips that will enable kids to eat healthier both at school and at home.

“The reason I teach for the program is primarily due to my concern for the rising obesity rate in America,” said Sutton. “I feel that one of the best ways to fight this issue is by teaching our children as early as possible about the importance of a healthier diet along with daily exercise which can lead to a happy and healthy lifestyle.”

“Cheetos are not a meal”

LAUSD’s Chef’s in the Classroom, now in its seventh year, primarily focuses on teaching students good eating habits, but the program has recently decided to target the adults involved in a child’s nutrition by providing training for teachers. These nutrition classes are voluntary but the program has seen a healthy number of teachers sign up. Eighteen teachers, or about a third of the instructors at the Ellen Ochoa school, signed up to learn how to make Sutton’s vegetable and cream cheese wontons.

“It’s important for my students to know how to be healthy so they can share that with their families,” said Leticia Rodriguez, one of the teachers who signed up for the cooking class. “In this community, you are not going to find a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods Market, so you have to work with what’s available.”

Sutton, who works as a private chef and has catered high profile events like the Latin Grammy’s, writes her recipes with ease in mind. During her cooking demonstration, she made sure to show how easy it is to find the vegetables, and that “if it’s creamy and crunchy, the kids will go for it.”

Chefs in the Classroom targets schools where 50 percent or more of the students are eligible for a government-funded free lunch. Schools that meet the 50 percent threshold are invited to apply for a grant from state and federal agencies. Campuses that win the money receive a visit from a chef.


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Ellen Ochoa students face challenges in their pursuit of healthier diets. For starters, their campus and neighborhoods are surrounded by fast-food restaurants.

Changing the idea of healthy eating

Second grade teacher Allison Chun applied for the Chefs in the Classroom grant at the Ellen Ochoa Learning Center middle school because she saw young people eating poorly.

“Our kids don’t have exposure to healthy foods,” said Chun. “Someone needs to tell them that Fire hot Cheetos are not a meal, so we try to do things like have a health fair every year.”

The program is part of LAUSD's Network for a Healthy California. The network is geared towards promoting nutrition education in schools with numerous programs like the Chefs in the Classroom. Half of the funding for the Chefs in the Classroom program comes from the United States Department of Agriculture and half from the California Department of Health and Human Services.

Although schools are hurting from recent budget cuts, the federal funding for Chefs in the Classroom remains strong. “Budget cuts do not affect ingredients or schools as we already work to existing nutritional standards and formulas for schools,” said Roberta Acantilado, project director for the Network for a Healthy California.

The funding goes towards a chef’s stipend that covers all ingredients needed for the cooking demonstrations. All recipes are standard and use fruits and vegetables as the star ingredients. “Basically we need to make sure the recipes are accessible, the lesson plans are focused on USDA educational goals, but also have an emphasis on the health and safety of the students for LAUSD,” said Alex Hamilton, director of Chefs in the Classroom.

Hamilton believes that the program’s biggest challenge comes from accessibility to nutritious foods, not program funding or lack of schools’ interest. He hopes to take the program to the next level, by not only involving teachers, but also parents.

“If we could put 16,000 parents through the Chefs in the Classroom program each year, I think we would change more behaviors,” said Hamilton. “While the students are super responsive, there is simply too little they have control over to effect great change.”

Furthermore: Chef Billie Sutton shares one of her recipes for wontons, which are not only tasty but healthy.

Tags: cudahy eating eating well educators ellen ochoa healthy eating middle school nutrition recipe south los angeles students teachers wontons