New Braunfels ISD Head Chef Jamoll “Chef Jay” Leday bounces from campus to campus teaching students about new ingredients as part of The Roving Chef and Farmer’s Market programs.

Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE) is NBISD’s food service management partner and through them Chef Jay provides a fun and free environment for elementary-aged students. As part of The Roving Chef, Chef Jay invites about 10 students to make a dish, going through each step of the process. The students then eat the final product for lunch. Earlier this month, Chef Jay made cheese and pepperoni pizzas with a group of Veramendi Elementary School students.

“The concept is letting the kids know where and how their food is prepared,” Chef Jay said.

Chef Jay also holds a Farmer’s Market with ingredients that the students don’t typically see in a school cafeteria. SFE purchases the items and all of the students are allowed to taste them for free.

This month, some of the ingredients included blood oranges, rainbow carrots and heirloom tomatoes.

The plan is to keep these programs going so students can become more knowledgeable about how their food is made, while also making them aware of the different varieties of ingredients.

To learn more about SFE and the Child Nutrition Department, please visit: https://www.nbisd.org/departments/child-nutrition.