Dartmouth Public Schools in Massachusetts is taking a practical approach that could offer a useful model for other school nutrition programs. Rather than creating a separate plant-based identity, the district is introducing more plants through familiar dishes, scratch cooking, gradual substitutions, student tastings and an emphasis on flavor.
The district participates in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program and provides nutritious meals to students while meeting federal school nutrition standards. But its foodservice program is also looking beyond basic requirements to consider how school meals can expose children to new ingredients, flavors and eating habits that may stay with them long after they leave school.
Leading that effort is Cady Molloy, MBA, SNS, School Nutrition Director for Dartmouth Public Schools. Her philosophy is refreshingly straightforward: plant-forward food shouldn’t feel like a compromise. It should
simply be good food.
Among the district’s initiatives are scratch-made egg- and dairy-free muffins; a daily vegetarian option; a new teriyaki stir-fry featuring crispy tofu; and a scratch-made Frito pie that combines beef and lentils. Rather than eliminating familiar foods, Dartmouth is finding ways to gradually shift the balance toward plants while keeping meals recognizable and appealing to students.
I spoke with Molloy about what Dartmouth is learning—and what other school foodservice operators might take from its experience.
At Dartmouth Public Schools, we are just beginning to add plant-forward offerings, so our biggest priority is building a strong foundation and making these foods a natural part of the menu.
Across the district we are baking muffins from scratch, with a variety of flavors, and all of them are egg- and dairy-free. Because they are made from scratch, they also contain about one-third of the added sugar found in the pre-made muffins we previously used.
We also offer a vegetarian option every day at all of our schools. This year, we are introducing our first fully plant-based main entrée: a teriyaki stir-fry made with crispy tofu and a homemade teriyaki sauce.
Another exciting addition is a scratch-made Frito pie cooked with 50% beef and 50% lentils. The beef provides familiarity for students, while the lentils introduce a plant-based protein and increase the fiber in the meal. For us, plant-forward isn’t about making a menu that is completely vegan, but making small shifts that can positively impact our sustainability and increase student exposure to new ingredients. We try to find thoughtful ways to shift the balance toward plant-based while keeping the meal approachable.
No need to overcomplicate this. At the end of the day, students, like all of us, enjoy food that tastes good!
When plant-forward options are familiar, delicious, and presented in an appealing way, students will take them. We also try not to make the plant-based aspect the headline. Instead, we focus on the parts of the food that students already recognize and find appealing.
For example, our tofu entrée is called Teriyaki Stir-Fry; we don’t put “tofu” in the name. We don’t advertise our muffins as plant-based or egg- and dairy-free; we advertise that they are baked in-house.
I think that approach is important because students shouldn’t feel like they are being asked to make a choice based on whether something is “healthy” or “plant-based.” They should be choosing it because it looks and sounds delicious. The food should always be good and not feel like a compromise.
We provide samples on the serving line whenever a student is unsure about a dish. We are also working on rolling out cafeteria tastings this year so we can introduce students to new recipes and, just as importantly, hear their feedback.
It can be stressful for a student to take an unfamiliar meal on the line. There is always a risk that they won’t like it, and that is true whether the food is plant-based or not. When students have the opportunity to try something new without the risk of committing to a full serving, it gives them the space to approach it with an open mind.
The more exposure students have to new foods, the easier and more exciting it becomes for them to try something unfamiliar. We want tasting new foods to feel normal rather than intimidating.
Students who eat breakfast and lunch at school from preschool through high school will eat more than 5,000 meals during their school years. That is a large number of opportunities to shape how they experience food.
School meals, when done well, can help shape students’ palates and have an impact far beyond the cafeteria. We have an opportunity to introduce children to recipes, flavors, and ingredients that can become part of their lives long after they graduate.
By offering meals that are high in fiber, lower in added sugar, made from scratch, culturally representative, and locally sourced — and, most importantly, actually taste good — we can help raise the next generation to eat in a way that is good for them, the food system and the planet, and is enjoyable as well.
The balancing act is real! I start with nutrition and food cost on paper. Once it works on paper, I recipe-test in the kitchen and continue tweaking until the quality of the dish meets the standards and integrity of our program. A recipe can look great from a nutritional and cost perspective, but if it doesn’t taste good or can’t be executed efficiently in a school kitchen, it isn’t going to be successful.
Once a recipe is finalized, we provide culinary training for our kitchen staff so that it can be prepared consistently across the district.
In Dartmouth, we are working to build a high-quality foodservice program across the board. That includes scratch cooking, local sourcing, cultural diversity and representation on the menu, and increasing our plant-forward options.
My hope over the next few years is that our plant-based and plant-forward offerings reach full student acceptance. There is a point on the scale of change where you are no longer trying to convince students to try something new and instead, the new food simply becomes the norm, and students are excited about it.
That’s ultimately where I would like Dartmouth to be. I don’t want plant-based food to feel like a special category or something students are having to be encouraged to eat. I want it to be part of a great school menu, food that is familiar, exciting, delicious, and naturally part of the way we feed our students.
What makes Dartmouth’s approach noteworthy for other school foodservice operators is that it isn’t based on an all-or-nothing transformation. The district is demonstrating how plant-forward eating can be introduced incrementally — through a muffin baked without eggs or dairy, lentils blended into a familiar beef dish, tofu paired with a recognizable teriyaki flavor, or a taste offered before a student has to commit to an entire serving.
There is also an operational lesson. New recipes have to satisfy nutrition and cost requirements, but they also have to taste good, work in a school kitchen and be reproducible by foodservice staff across multiple locations.
Perhaps the most valuable takeaway, however, is Molloy’s goal of eventually making the “plant-based” designation itself less important. Success comes when students aren’t choosing a dish because someone has persuaded them to eat something healthier or more sustainable. They’re choosing it because it looks good, tastes good and has become a normal part of lunch.
For other school districts looking to put more plants on students’ plates, Dartmouth offers a practical place to start: Don’t try to change everything at once. Make the food familiar, make it approachable—and above all, make it delicious.
