Rachael Ray Heads Chefs Council to Upgrade Meals in NYC Schools

School meals just got the star treatment after NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks announced Tuesday the launch of the city's first-ever Chefs Council, to be led by none other than celebrity chef Rachael Ray. 

The council includes Ray and a team of other celebrated chefs, culinary industry professionals and food activists. The goal of the initiative? To create tasty and nutritious meals for kids across city schools. Wellness in the Schools (WITS), a national nonprofit that teaches kids healthy habits, is another huge partner on the program. 

“Teaching students at a young age to eat healthy, nutritious meals is critical to setting them up for success,” Adams said. “The new Chefs Council will develop delicious, nutritious, culturally relevant meals for schools with direct input from students and parents. Through this partnership with WITS and our tremendous staff of school food workers, we will take school meals to the next level.”

Chaired by Ray, the council will be composed of food pros who will develop scratch-cooked, plant-based and culturally relevant recipes for the DOE's Office of Food and Nutrition Services (OFNS) They'll also provide hands-on training for OFNS chefs. 

Wondering how the program will take off? Well, kids and parents will be official taste testers. The council will create over 100 recipes that will be tested in all the boroughs during the 2022-2023 school year. After feedback from students and parents, the recipes will be introduced as a monthly seasonal menu and the chefs will then train school cooks on implementing the new recipes onsite in all public school locations.

So far, the public is giving mixed reviews. 

“Tell them to eat meat and stop the processed food and vegetables. It's pretty simple,” one Twitter user posted. 

“Healthy minds, healthy body! Children from poor families will benefit. Hope it's prepared right and served with love,” another person posted. 

Banks stressed the importance of providing healthy meals for students. 

“Healthy and nourishing meals are essential in ensuring our students can succeed both inside and outside the classroom. This initiative will help to expand our menus while making sure they follow our strict health standards and are reflective of the cultures and communities we serve,” Banks said. “I’m grateful to the Chefs Council for the work they will do as part of this initiative and to our food service workers, who work day in and day out to ensure our students are well fed and cared for.”