Bunchland

Chef Anthony Rose shares his son’s favourite school lunch

Drake Hotel Exceutive Chef Anthony Rose is working with the Angel Foundation for Learning to spread awareness about the importance of a solid, healthy school lunch.

Over 30,000 children (1 in 3 students) within the Toronto Catholic District School Board use student nutrition programs every day, be it breakfasts, lunches or snacks (amounting to an amazing 5.3 million nourishing meals per year). This year, to mark the City of Toronto’s Feeding Toronto’s Hungry Students Week (October 3-7, 2011), The Drake Hotel’s Chef Anthony Rose created an interactive Lunchbox Smorgasbord for parents to make with their kids at home. By sharing this recipe, his goal is to raise awareness of just how great a need exists in our own communities, and the immense, positive impact that nutrition programs have on building bright futures for our children.

How did you get involved with the Angel Foundation of Learning?
They reached out to us to get involved, they know we’ve got a reputation around making good, simple, healthy food. We just jumped at the opportunity.

They give away 5.3 million meals every year, what do these meals look like?
They follow the government balance sheet in terms of what should be out there; it’s a balanced meal in general. What we were going for was and working with them on was to do our rendition on a school lunch. I have a 6-year-old son so it was really topical on my end — he just started grade 1 this year.

Why is this important to have this dialogue about nutritious lunches?
It’s just with everything, it’s really got to start at the beginning. Sending lunches to school for our kids, you should be getting them involved with this right at the start. It’s part of the education process; it’s harder later in life to teach these things and how important (healthy eating) is, but if you start with that and give them healthy lunches and there is no other option, then they get it right from the start.

The lunchbox smorgasbord — how did you come up with this idea?
It really started last year when my son was going to senior kindergarten and then he went on to camp during the summer where we had to pack him lunches. We found out pretty quickly what he wouldn’t eat and he’s a very, very active little guy so we tried to find out what he wanted. What he wanted were things he could eat quickly and not think about too much and he also really likes variety. When he wouldn’t eat his sandwich, we asked him, “Well, what would you eat?” and he gave us a list of 10 different things. And we thought, “wait a second, that’s a lot of stuff!” but as we thought about it, everything he wanted was just really easy stuff that he could snack on. All the things he was talking about were simple to make and easy to package. At first we’d put 10 or 12 different things in there, but we found he wasn’t eating four or five of them, so we’ve kind of settled on packing six or seven things. He’ll never eat everything; he might completely ignore the cucumbers or the chicken one day, but each day he would eat a little of this and a little of that. And he got a kick out of it; it was never boring for him. He never does eat everything, but if he eats a little of this and a little of that, we’re very happy.

What advice for other parents of picky eaters?
I think it’s very important, even when I’m at home with Simon, I never make two meals. I’ll only make the things I want to eat — I’m not going to make a grilled cheese or mac and cheese every time. That’s why it’s important that even from a young age to get them involved in the cooking process. If he doesn’t like something, I’m not going to push food on him, but at long as he tries it, that’s the important part. With the lunchbox smorgasbord was such a good idea, not only because he came up with it, but because it’s stuff I eat at home anyway. For instance, if it’s the roast chicken, we’ll pick up a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, which is one of my favourite things, we can use some of that for his lunch and use some of it to make a really hearty soup. The raw vegetables that we include in the smorgasbord, I think that the raw things are very important and all the protein, all the legumes as well, I think the more variety you can get in there, the better. This doesn’t take much time and the kids can be involved in the process.

How do you get kids excited about healthy food?
At home when I’m with Simon, I like him to not only be involved with helping me cook the meal – he does like making fruit smoothies and under my guidance, cut vegetables or cheese – when we go to the grocery store, I’m always interested to see what he wants. He picks up stuff he’s never tried before. Sometimes when he tries it, he doesn’t like it, but it’s all a learning process. I never say, “No you can’t have that,” unless it’s a bunch of candy or something, but for the most part he knows that’s implied. He absolutely adores sushi, so we send him to school with some sushi. Not the raw fish, but all the vegetables and he loves the rice and the nori.

Do you have a favourite lunch?
Now that we’re getting into the cooler weather, I’ve got to get Simon a couple thermoses. I’m going to try and pack him some warm, chunky soups. He really loves tomato soup. By the time you get it to school, it’s not hot but it’s nice and warm. We’re working on warmer things, like spaghetti and tomato sauce, which he loves.

Will there be a winter version of the lunch smorgasbord?
I think that the smorgasbord with Simon is really tested and proven; he doesn’t get bored of it. Last week he was saying he wanted to have more noodles and broccoli in there as well. He loves that Asian influence of the Chinese noodles with black beans and broccoli, so that will definitely be an addition to the smorgasbord. He’d love us to add some sushi rice, or maybe even some brown rice in there too.

Does Simon’s affinity for the Asian flavours have anything to do with the Drake Chinatown pop-up?
I’ve been bringing more food home for him from the Chinatown Pop-up, he does love the Eastern flavours.

What are the other perks of having the Drake’s executive chef for a dad?
I’m very interested in the food I give Simon. He hangs out a lot at the Drake Hotel. Even on my days off, I do a little bit of cooking at home, but it’s my business to see what else is out there so we’re always trying new and interesting restaurants. I love that he’s really gotten into that and he’s so adventurous.

How do other parents get their kids to choose healthy lunches?
I think it’s of the utmost importance that starting at a young age, kids learn how to eat right. As the years go on, they’ll know to stay away from the french fry lunches, cola and candy bars. Simon loves all those things, except he’s never had a coke, but he knows he has to eat healthy, balanced meals. He knows that if he has McDonalds, he’s not going to feel great after he eats it.

Just nurture your kid’s tastebuds and get them to try lots of different good and nutritious foods to find out what they like.

Photo via The Drake Hotel