When was the last time you ate a school lunch? As someone who is (to be charitable) a few years out of public school, I was surprised to learn how much school lunch has changed since I started out in Mrs. Monroe’s first grade.

To illustrate these changes, the WGC invited Chartwells, the school-food division of Compass Group, to serve lunch to the 150 government policymakers, health professionals, food marketing executives, and R&D specialists attending our Make (at least!) Half Your Grains Whole conference last month in Alexandria, VA. Our only rule: Chartwells could serve nothing other than foods that had already been used on one of their school menus somewhere in the U.S.

We scarfed down hummus with whole grain bagel chips, whole grain pasta primavera, chicken veggie wraps and some really cute turkey sliders on whole grain buns. Okay, the presentation was nicer than in most schools – we had a buffet and white tablecloths instead of plastic trays in a noisy cafeteria, and there were only a few jokes about which table the cool kids were sitting at – but the food was real school food at its re-invented best.

Our school lunch caught the eye of local CBS affiliate WUSA, which invited me and Margie Saidel, Chartwells School Dining Service’s Director of Nutrition, to go on air and explain why whole grains are so important to kids’ health – and how school lunches have changed in the 21st century. Take a look at this video clip of the WUSA-TV piece that aired May 20. (Cindy)