Cooking in schools matters. Nearly half of all school-aged kids in the U.S (30 million children) eat school meals five days a week. By making sure school meals are healthy and cooked from scratch using real ingredients, they are helping kids feel better and succeed in and beyond the classroom.
Chef Ann Cooper founded the Chef Ann Foundation in 2009 to help K–12 schools ensure that every child has daily access to fresh, healthy food. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Chef Ann has over 50 years of experience and has directed school food programs for more than 25 years. Her books Bitter Harvest and Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children have made her a leading advocate for safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable food.
The Chef Ann Foundation is committed to helping school districts build, implement and sustain a self-operated, cook-from-scratch program. To do this, they provide a continuum of programming that meets districts where they are and helps support them in moving their program forward. The Chef Ann Foundation helps schools replace ultraprocessed foods with fresh, healthy, and delicious scratch-cooked meals that nourish kids and protect the planet.
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hrough their programs, the foundation is working to get schools to cook as well as recommending ways to buy local ingredients, reducing food waste and creating better jobs in school cafeterias. Programs include: Get Schools Cooking, Salad Bars to Schools, School Food Institute, The Lunch Box, Bulk Milk, Specialized Programming and Healthy School Food Patchway Apprenticeship and Fellowships.
Want to know more?
- Website chefannfoundation.org
- Short film The transformation of school meals
- Newsletter Sign up here
- Email info@chefannfoundation.org
