Steal This Idea: Student Tasting Panel

The ideas, photos and recipes coming to us from our partnership with School Meals That Rock are an amazing source of inspiration. One of our recent favorites was from Carina Myatt from Midland ISD in Texas:

Carina posted a picture of a student tasting panel of first graders tasting a “Delicious Deli Pasta Salad.” They looked both adorable and very official at the same time! We’ve seen more districts doing this sort of thing lately, engaging with students directly to get all kinds of feedback about menu items, and to test ideas. It’s a really smart way to give students a sense of ownership, and make sure your program matches what students like to eat!

Carina told us, “Because it was first grade, we kept it simple! They got to rank their overall preference by a scale of smiley faces that meant love, like, neutral and dislike. They also gave us feedback that they would enjoy the whole grain penne pasta with Chicken Parmesan and with our homemade meat sauce next year.”

Thanks for sharing Carina!