Changing student appetites one bean at a time

SUAMICO - It's lunch time at Bay Port High School in Suamico.

There's your normal lunch fare, from pizza to sweet and sour chicken and even hotdog casserole.

But one day of each month, there's another option.

"Would you like to try some edamame?" asks Chanda Foley, her voice trying to reach above the din of the high school lunch crowd.

Why edamame?

Edamame is the preparation of young, green soy beans, still in the pod. The pods are steamed, sprinkled with soy sauce and sea salt.

But why did Foley choose to serve edamame in Bay Port High School, to high school students?

"Due to the fact that my 9-year-old will eat these, I figured, hopefully high school kids would give it a try too,” said Foley, wearing her bright red chef’s coat.

But Foley isn’t your every day school cook; she’s just one of the chefs the Howard-Suamico School District is bringing in to Bay Port High School, each month.

The school district says the unofficially named "visiting chef program" serves two purposes.

It gets students eating outside their comfort zones and helps the district generate new menu ideas for the future.

"These are ways to try and introduce new foods and get (students) to accept them better," said Howard-Suamico School District food service director Kari Alvey.

But what do students think of the steamed, slightly salty, green colored soy bean?

"It's pretty good, I like it, yep!” said senior Tyler Hermes. “She told me how to eat it, pop the bean out, I like it.”

But sitting next to Hermes was Lucas Delaurelle and he didn’t have the same sentiment.

"It tastes really bland, really bland. No, that’s (not for me),” said Delaurelle, also a senior.

Though it’s just one sample of edamame, and just one day, Foley hopes her samples will help change students and school districts minds.

"I'm sure serving pizza every day isn't exactly doing us justice," said sophomore Marissa Schoen.

"It's an opportunity to try different things and things I probably would not try otherwise,” said Brianna Dury, a senior, “Because if I really liked it, then I'd want to try it again."

Bay Port has already seen chefs from area restaurants like Titletown and Saint Brendan's Inn and takeover the school's kitchen.

This is the program's first year.