RICHMOND, Va. — For the second year in a row, Richmond Public Schools invited students to taste and choose the foods they want to see on their school menus.
The district hosted a "Small Fry Social" on Tuesday at Clark Springs Elementary School. The food-filled field trip brought together 135 students from across the district to act as young food critics.
"We are here at Clark Springs Elementary School, and we are having our second food show with our elementary students," Shannon Ebron, director of school nutrition services, said.
Ebron said the event featured 14 vendors and 30 different food concepts.
"The students, they showed up, we had different rooms with 30 concepts and 14 vendors, 10 vendors per room, and we're doing a rotation today," Ebron said.
Students sampled a wide variety of options, ranging from breakfast and dessert to fusion recipes and seafood.
"You know, we're showing off a lot of different fusion, you know, international flavors, you know, whole grains, you know, lean protein. Like I said, the catfish bowl is a local Chesapeake catfish," Ebron said.
The event was curated with the idea that the cafeteria is also a classroom, giving the district an opportunity to implement new and nutritious options. Students used bingo chips to cast their votes on the food.
"This time we're doing like a red light, green light thing with bingo chips. So we have red if it's a no, green if it's a yes, and then we have a golden chip," Ebron said.
Students shared their honest opinions on the dishes they tasted throughout the day.
"Funnel cake, cookies, and we got that thing right there, that’s really really good, it’s made out of eggs," one student said.
"This is my favorite because it’s like the ice cream that my mom makes," another student said.
"I went to almost all of them. My favorite one so far is the burger one right there and the cookies," a student said.
"It’s mashed potatoes with this tender I think and I think it's really delicious," another student said.
Several students expressed gratitude for the opportunity to have a voice in what gets served in their cafeterias.
"I feel like that I’m really important to like get the school another chance to get good food," one student said.
"So I feel like today is great day because we all ate what we wanted and what we voted for," a student said.
The results of the students' favorite foods will be released in the next few weeks.
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