Annual Conference
Conference Session
2018-11-09
"Expanding Beyond Beans and Cheese: Stepping Up the Vegetarian Menu"Key Areas: Nutrition
Session: Session A - Friday, November 09th, 2018: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
- Seaside S-5
Speaker(s): Emily Burson, RD - Founder & President, School Nutrition Plus
Matt Poling - Executive Chef, Greeley-Ward County School District 6
Objectives: After the session, attendees will leave with a better understanding of how to implement made-from-scratch, innovative plant-based meals in schools that garner positive response from students, staff, and parents.
Attendees will understand how nuts and seeds, can be used as a plant-based protein to satisfy the meat/meat alternate requirements in the National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs, and how pilot programs can introduce students to new foods.
Description: Learn from two innovative thinkers: Emily Burson, RD and Chef Matt Poling: about how they've implemented scratch cooking, plant-based meals in their schools. They'll discuss case studies of how they've exposed students of different ages to an emerging California-grown ingredient in schools: walnuts. Discover how they prepare this nutritious plant-based protein in different recipes that students and staff want to eat again and again.
Speaker Bio(s):
Emily Burson, RD - School Nutrition Plus
Speaker Bio:
Emily Burson, RD has been pushing the envelope of school dining since 2009 when she founded School Nutrition Plus, a school catering company in Southern California. Emily's relentless desire to serve kids real food and teach them where it comes from drove her to start SNP. Having worked with professionally trained chefs, she is widely recognized for leading culinary teams, and is responsible for the overall direction of SNP, which employs more than 100 team members. One of Emily's greatest joys is tasting the creative food that the chefs at SNP come up with while working within tight budget and nutrition constraints. This past spring, Emily, alongside her business partner and SNP's executive chef, Brandon Neumen, launched a cookbook, "A Chef Walks into a Cafeteria..." to honor the flavor values of scratch cooking and inspire families to cook together...with recipes actually served in the school cafeteria!
Matt Poling - Greeley-Ward County School District 6
Speaker Bio:
Matt Poling is the Executive Chef at Greeley-Evans School District 6 who participated in the 2017 Walnuts in Schools Pilot Program. Chef Poling has spoken about the benefits of plant-based meals and adding walnuts to the school lunch menu, especially at breakfast. His district is known for their innovation in school meals, and was one of the first to operate a large-scale scratch kitchen and farm-to-school programs.
Upcoming CSNA Events
November 13-16, 202472nd Annual Conference
April 6-8, 2025
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May 4-6, 2025
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