{"id":606,"date":"2020-10-27T13:29:51","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T17:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/?p=606"},"modified":"2020-10-27T13:29:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T17:29:51","slug":"acps-executive-chef-resigns-shares-food-for-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/2020\/10\/27\/acps-executive-chef-resigns-shares-food-for-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"ACPS Executive Chef Resigns, Shares Food for Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ethan Gotsch<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the fall of 2019, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) announced the hiring of Isaiah Ruffin, the first-ever executive chef in the school district. From the beginning of his employment with ACPS, Ruffin made it clear that he was not content with the standard quality level of cafeteria food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He hoped to better the quality of food through his ambitious master plan to transform the school kitchen. In this plan, all food would be made from scratch on-site, using locally-sourced ingredients and environmentally-friendly methods that reduce waste, all by 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His plan was continually promoted and publicized throughout ACPS\u2019s social media accounts, indicating that the school district was in the beginning of a new era of fresh, local, and healthy food. However, on October 6, roughly one year into the proposed three-year plan, Ruffin announced his resignation as executive chef. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDecember was when I really had that first thought, like, you know what, this may not be the right place for me,\u201d Ruffin said during an interview with Theogony<\/em>. Ruffin said he initially received a lot of support and optimism at the beginning of his time at ACPS. \u201cThere was definitely a lot of support from the stakeholders and a lot of the leadership. And when I say leadership, I\u2019m not necessarily talking about nutrition. I\u2019m talking about the superintendent, some other departments like facilities and communication – they were all very supportive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruffin said he also had a great experience working with local farms and organizations who reached out to him after The Washington Post <\/em>published an article about him on January 2. The piece went in-depth into his goals as the ACPS executive chef: to eliminate pre-packaged foods and eventually make all foods from scratch. It also discussed Ruffin\u2019s dissatisfaction with the job title of \u201ccafeteria worker,\u201d and how he wanted to change the title to reflect their new role in the kitchen – not just people preparing frozen food, but chefs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, after the Post<\/em> article was published, Ruffin soon realized his goals were not fully supported by leadership within the Department of School Nutrition Services. \u201cAfter The Washington Post<\/em> did that article featuring me and talking about the things I really wanted to change and move forward,\u201d said Ruffin, \u201cmy supervisor brought me into the office and was like, \u2018Hey, I understand you have all these great ideas and want to do this, but we\u2019re never going to cook from scratch.\u2019 … she might have given us a percentage, but there was never a full commitment to converting us to scratch. And this was two months in,\u201d Ruffin explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cynthia Hormel, the Director of School Nutrition Services, requested that all questions about Ruffin\u2019s resignation and the future of ACPS food be forwarded to Helen Lloyd, the Executive Director for the Office of Communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd indicated that ACPS is currently searching for a new executive chef and is in the process of reviewing applications. With regard to future plans for ACPS food, Lloyd said, \u201cACPS School Nutrition Services has a master plan in the same way that all ACPS offices and departments are required to have a master plan. This is created in collaboration with senior leadership and shared with the superintendent and Board on an annual basis.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if ACPS supports Ruffin\u2019s plan to ultimately make all food in-house with 75% of the food sourced locally, Lloyd said, \u201cACPS is committed to sourcing a large percentage of our food locally,\u201d adding, \u201cThis has always been our end goal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the issue of ACPS kitchens running on zero waste, Lloyd said ACPS is committed to operating \u201cwith a green footprint.\u201d She said elementary schools are returning to reusable trays, and students are encouraged to only take food they want to eat, and said that this \u201cminimizes our carbon footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople deserve access to healthy and nutritious food,\u201d said T.C. junior Ellie Lo, adding that \u201cscratch cooking is healthier and in my opinion tastier, and using local products supports local businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruffin discussed some of the highlights of his short time with ACPS. He said school administrative teams told him they loved the new changes he was making to school food. Even one school that was not initially won over came around after receiving so much positive feedback to Ruffin\u2019s vegan Shepherd\u2019s Pie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe parents by far were the biggest supporters,\u201d said Ruffin, \u201cWhenever I tried something new or addressed a concern, they were like, \u2018oh my god, this is great! Why can\u2019t all school food be like this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ACPS School Nutrition Services\u2019 Facebook page is filled with promotions of Ruffin\u2019s innovative approach to school food. \u201cAround the World Wednesday,\u201d globally inspired plant-based meals, was a new feature Ruffin brought to elementary schools across Alexandria. Ruffin featured everything from Ethiopian Doro Wat to Pad Thai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACPS also released several videos in which Ruffin shows how to make homemade and healthy versions of ketchup, chicken & biscuits, and overnight French toast. When asked why these videos weren\u2019t widely distributed, particularly in the high school, Ruffin attributed that to communication problems and personality conflicts between departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruffin says T.C. students may not have been aware of the changes he was making to school food, since most of his focus started at the elementary school level. T.C. junior Neil Gascon said he didn\u2019t notice much of a change in T.C. cafeteria food during the months leading up to the pandemic: \u201cIt just didn\u2019t feel like [the T.C. cafeteria] had enough diversity, the food … wasn\u2019t healthy enough… in my opinion, it was kind of the same-old, same-old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gascon also talked about his experiences with the food service ACPS has been offering during the pandemic. While he said the beginning was rocky, the food and the way that it is packaged and distributed has improved with time. \u201cIn the beginning [of ACPS\u2019s food service], the healthiest stuff you would get was fruits like apples [and] oranges, [but] sometimes they would be moldy or smell kind of funky, or have a lot of weird bruises,\u201d Gascon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow they\u2019re [providing] the salads you would see in the T.C. cafeteria. They\u2019re adding more sandwiches in addition to the snacks they always had, so it\u2019s definitely gotten better,\u201d said Gascon. Even so, Gascon was doubtful that the food was made on-site from scratch. \u201cA lot of it was basically prepackaged, especially the breakfast foods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, the future of ACPS food remains unknown. According to Lloyd, a new executive chef will be hired and \u201ccontinue to explore opportunities for new and creative food options.\u201d However, Ruffin said food nutrition services are \u201cgoing to be kind of grim for a while.\u201d He continued, \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of major changes happening [in ACPS]\u2026 but that same push isn\u2019t happening for nutrition in ACPS. The nutrition department is very reactive. There\u2019s no real strategic plan\u2026 it\u2019s basically \u2018we\u2019ll see what happens and we\u2019ve just got to keep giving kids lunches.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He attributes this to the fact that funding for nutrition services comes from the number of  students who buy school breakfast and lunch, so the emphasis is put on serving as many students as possible rather than the quality of the food itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Ruffin, who is also an ACPS parent, doesn\u2019t want the community to give up hope on the possibility of better school food. His advice to parents desiring change in ACPS\u2019s food is, \u201cNever let up on what you want. If you want healthier food for your children and less chicken nuggets and corn, you need to keep pressing nutrition services. If nutrition services are blowing you off and not giving you the respect you think you deserve as a parent, then go to the next person, go to the superintendent, show up at school board meetings. If you want something, you\u2019ve got to go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the fall of 2019, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) announced the hiring of Isaiah Ruffin, the first-ever executive chef in the school district. From the beginning of his employment with ACPS, Ruffin made it clear that he was not content with the standard quality level of cafeteria food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/image.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":610,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions\/610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2020-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}