WITS - Cooks for Kids Program - (M087) PS 87 William T. Sherman School

WITS - Cooks for Kids Program

Wellness in the Schools (WITS) is a grassroots, non-profit, community based organization founded in 2005 in order to improve the environment, nutrition, and fitness in NYC public schools.

Chef Cynthia Tomasini - Chef in Residence, Cynthia Tomasini, works alongside our PS 87 cafeteria staff to train, inspire, and support their preparation of salad bars and fresh homemade meals. Chef Cynthia is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in NYC. She has worked at Sur La Table, Eden Village Farm and L'Ecole. Chef Cynthia currently works as private chef, Oliver Cheng Catering and the Culinary Loft. Most recently Chef Cynthia was a WITS chef at PS 11.

Between The Bread

PS 87's new chef partner through WITS is Jon Eisen from Between the Bread. For four decades, Between the Bread has provided locally sourced food and is now only using compostable and biodegradable containers, which complements our school's Zero Waste Initiative. Visit Between the Bread online at www.betweenthebread.com.

WITS Cooking Labs
Our WITS Chef in Residence, Cynthia Tomasini conducts a series of cooking labs with the kids. The WITS Wellness Lab is the component of the Cook for Kids program that takes place in the classroom. Interactive cooking and nutrition demonstrations are incorporated into the school day. In the Wellness Lab, children are introduced to seasonal produce and they prepare and taste the produce in a variety of ways: raw, roasted and in a recipe. Recipes are given to children to take home and at least one of the recipes is prepared in the cafeteria during the tasting week.

These cooking labs take place periodically throughout the year. The entire lab is taught within 30-45 minutes and at the end of each class all the kids get a tasting. The WITS Labs are made possible thanks to the generosity of Whole Foods Marke t and OXO.

The WITS Cooking Labs recipes:

Overall Goals for the WITS Cook for Kids Program:

To provide a salad bar daily that offers two lettuces, three additional vegetables, and one fresh composed salad.
To provide salad dressings made from scratch.
To provide at least one fresh fruit daily (not canned or in syrup).
To ensure that vegetables served are fresh (frozen only when necessary and never canned).
To ensure that at least 60% of the meals offered each week are made from unprocessed ingredients (at least 3 times/week). We eliminate all foods that list more than 5 ingredients.
To offer only whole grain pasta, bread and rice.
To ensure access to water daily at lunch.
To eliminate sweetened milk.
To offer grass-fed beef at least twice each semester.
To support sustainable disposable recycling efforts by eliminating the use of styrofoam trays at least two days/week (Trayless Tuesday and Pizza Friday).
To eliminate the service of meat products at least one day per week.