CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A local sheriff visited the Flour Bluff Independent School district to try its famous chef salad.
"I had to find out for myself about those chef salads at Flour Bluff ISD." saidNueces County Sheriff John Hooper in a post. "Thank you Superintendant Velma Soliz Garcia for the lunch invite. The chef salad is as good as it looks."
The nutrition staff shared a moment from their visit with the sheriff Wednesday on social media.
The FBISD nutrition staff is using their ingredients and social media wisely.
Parents on Facebook are raving about the appearance of the district's school lunches.
“Well yesterday (last Wednesday) it blew up," said Brittany Garcia, school nutrition coordinator and registered dietitian. "We’ve had 35,000+ interactions with the spaghetti day yesterday. It’s just our biggest yet so we’re pretty proud of that.”
@flourbluffisdnutrition Spaghetti Day!!! #schoolnutrition #flourbluffisd #flourbluff
♬ Can't Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton) - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Garcia started sharing on social media in 2019 for the district. The pandemic put a halt to it, but now she's bringing it back. This year, she's added Tik Tk and Snapchat, to appeal to the younger students.
@flourbluffisdnutrition
“I really appreciate what the school is doing to kind of up their game," said Luisa Buttler, a parent of a third-grader in the district. "And also, because we have those closed campuses because of COVID, just to give parents a small insight into what their kids' day is.”
Garcia thinks using social media to show parents and students what they can look forward to and the process, it could change the perception of school lunches.
“I think there’s a lot of stigma behind school lunch and I think this helps alleviate that and make sure that parents know that there are whole foods being served to these kids and they’re getting their fruits and vegetables," said Garcia. "They are healthier than most options that could be picked up in a drive-thru or at a fast-food restaurant.”
“Seems like long gone are the days of mystery meat lunches," said Buttler. "So they look like really healthy and well balanced. If they can get my kid to eat a grapefruit awesome. Like, I can’t even do that. I think they’re really trying hard to give this balanced meal approach.”
Garcia said the food hasn't changed. The district continues to use whole foods. She said they have calorie, sodium, whole grain, vegetable and fruit requirements daily.
@flourbluffisdnutrition
What has changed is school meals are free for all students this year.
Buttler said that has been a blessing. It alleviates the stress of running around in the morning trying to throw a lunch together.
