Conscious Choice: Chicago's Conscious Caterer Goes Back to School

February 2007 | Thought for Food

Chicago's Conscious Caterer Goes Back to School

Chef Greg Christian has created the first program to introduce organic foods in the Chicago Public School System

By Lydia Marchuk

On a typical school day children in the Chicago Public School system lunch on the likes of burgers, pizza, nachos, grilled cheese, and chicken nuggets. For many kids, this is the only meal of their day and serves up the only kind of food they know. Such a diet may contribute to why young children in Chicago are two-and-a-half times more likely to be overweight than children nationwide.

Concerned about the growing epidemic of childhood obesity and other health issues, Chicago chef and caterer Greg Christian decided to make it his life’s mission to change the way kids eat. While he was able to pack healthy lunches for his two daughters, they would often describe how poor the choices were at school. Christian, a deeply spiritual person, realized he could turn his talents to doing something meaningful for those less well off. So he founded the Organic School Project (OSP), a pilot program in the Chicago Public Schools that brings together Chicago-area educators, public and private gardens, farms, food retailers and suppliers, and cooking and health care professionals to raise kids’ awareness of food. His challenge: getting healthier foods into a system of 617 elementary and high schools that serve more than 380,000 meals each day on a very limited budget.

Even when fresh fruit, salad bars and other healthier food choices are introduced in school cafeterias, children—like many adults—often pass them over for foods like soda, chips and fries. Real change, according to Christian, takes more than providing healthy choices; it requires making a connection between children and the food they eat. The first step is for kids to garden. “They have to reconnect with Mother Earth,” Christian says. “They have to grow something, plant it, have it and then they’re connected. Kids won’t change their eating ways from talk. Or listening. They won’t. The gardens are the key to reconnecting them. And then we can slowly start to introduce more whole foods, more vegetables, more fruits, more whole grains.”

In his own business, Christian has always taken a serious stance on serving the freshest foods possible, keeping the integrity of food intact and seeking locally grown and organic ingredients in all his culinary ventures, including his Greg Christian Catering and Events (1103 W. Grand Ave.). That philosophy, plus more than 20 years as a chef including stints with John Terczak at Gordon and Michael Short at the Star Top Café, has made his catering company among the top end in Chicago. A restless entrepreneur who is constantly conjuring up new ideas, Christian also operates Get Me Greg’s, an online catering company, and Go Go Organics, his newest venture of organic to-go cuisine.

To put his idea into action, Christian called on longtime friend Gerry Podraza, a former Chicago Public School administrator who, according to Christian, “really knew how to move in the system and how to speak the CPS language.” Together the two developed a comprehensive plan that centers on the themes of “grow, teach and feed.” The plan takes a holistic approach toward food and eating by including a full spectrum of activities, from gardening to nutrition and mindfulness curricula for relaxation and stress reduction (such as yoga) to food preparation and meal service. The program goes full circle with extensive measurement by faculty from Benedictine University.

Through the OSP, Chicago-area kids are tending their own gardens and tasting the results in the lunches they eat in their school cafeterias. The hope is that given the reconnection with their food sources kids will choose to eat more fresh, organic foods and fewer processed foods, better feeding their growing bodies and minds in the process.

The OSP is being implemented as a three-year pilot in diverse schools throughout the city; it started with Alcott Elementary School in Lincoln Park in 2005. The program was so well received, it was broadened this school year and expanded to two more elementary schools, McCorkle on the South Side and Hammond in Little Village. The kids’ reaction so far? “They love it,” Christian replies without hesitation. “They truly look forward to the nutrition education and the gardening.”

“We’re ecstatic to say the least,” comments David Domovic, Alcott Principal. “With obesity a big issue in this country, this is one small way where we can start: with children we teach every day, talking about nutrition and healthy eating. Children are now choosing healthy snacks. When I walk through the lunchroom, I see carrot sticks and celery sticks instead of potato chips.” Starting this month, Alcott will be the first Chicago Public School to serve organic lunches.

In three years’ time, Christian doesn’t expect all schools to be serving all-organic, made-from-scratch food, but he believes the food needs to be different from what is being served now. “I want to seriously raise the consciousness in this arena,” he says with a sense of impatience and urgency, given what he sees as the current health epidemic among children. “The only way this is going to change fast—express-elevator fast—is when the USDA gives more money to the school lunch program. We’ll know how much more that is in the next couple of years so that the big companies can serve healthier food.” Christian hopes the OSP pilot results will help build a stronger case to the USDA by showing that as kids eat better they are healthier, calmer, and do better in school.

For now, the OSP staff doesn’t have the resources to expand to more schools beyond the pilot, so it is looking at ways to make the program self-sustaining in every Chicago Public School. The plan is to integrate the training into a school’s curriculum with teachers, principals and parents doing the work. Christian also is looking for major food companies to step in and lend staff who can come up with ideas on how to make the program sustainable and replicable.

The OSP, a not-for-profit entity, is at the point where more funds are needed to expand the current pilot program. Although a portion of all three of Christian’s companies’ proceeds are donated to the OSP, Christian is looking for support from like-minded individuals, corporations, foundations and organizations that want to contribute. One way is to attend an OSP fundraiser that is part of Conscious Choice’s “Get On The Green Train” series, February 15th, 2007, 7-9pm, at the Funky Buddha Lounge, 728 West Grand Avenue, Chicago. Visit organicschoolproject.org.

Lydia Marchuk is a Chicago-based freelance writer who has had a lifelong love of food. She previously profiled Chicago-area food shops, markets, and neighborhoods through her own newsletter, “Savoring Chicago.”

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