Oct 14, 2011—RALEIGH, NC
Press Release: PieBird's Chef Arthurs Wins Iron Carrot Award at "Lunch In"
Photo: Culinary Job Training Students Prepare Carrots for Iron Carrot Award Lunch In.
RALEIGH, N.C. (October 14, 2011)—Chef Ruby Arthur of PieBird Restaurant was awarded the Iron Carrot at Lunch In, an Iron Chef-style competition held at Hunter Elementary School yesterday, for her winning healthy lunch creation featuring carrots, the secret ingredient. Chef Arthur prevailed over Chef Chad McIntyre of Market Restaurant in a close competition to win over the taste buds of six student judges and one teacher in the second Lunch In event held in Wake County.
Sponsored by Advocates for Health in Action (AHA), Lunch In is designed to raise awareness and engage the community to advocate for fresh, local healthy school lunches in Wake County. “It was great to see so many kids and their families enjoying healthy, local food!” said Laura Aiken, director of AHA and community outreach for WakeMed. “Educating them about the foods available locally in Wake County and how we can work together to get more local foods into schools is what Lunch In is all about.”
Working in the school kitchen for one hour, Chef Arthur prepared a vegetable and ground beef ragout with a butternut squash and carrot puree, along with an herb salad of carrot greens, arugula, thyme and rosemary. Chef McIntyre prepared an herbed carrot meatloaf with homemade ketchup, white sweet potato tater tots, a beet, carrot and parsley pasta salad, and a carrot shortbread cookie.
Hunter students had participated in a healthy recipe contest previously, and one winner from each grade was selected to serve as a judge in the Iron Carrot competition. The judges agreed all the foods were winners in the close competition and that it was hard to choose the best dish.
Hunter students and their families enjoyed sampling local food, gathered healthy meal and snack ideas, created vegetable sculptures, learned about school meals and decorated paper plates to send to the N.C. General Assembly urging legislators to support improving child nutrition in schools.
AHA is working with a team of volunteers in the community to make fresh, local, and healthy food choices an integral part of Wake County students’ school day. AHA held the first Lunch In last March at Underwood Elementary School and will organize an additional event at another Wake County school soon. AHA is developing a toolkit to enable schools to plan their own Lunch In events to engage students and the entire school community in learning about healthy, local foods and advocating for more local food in schools. “Engaging community members helped make Lunch In such a great event,” Aiken said.
About Advocates for Health in Action
Advocates for Health in Action (AHA) fosters and supports community efforts to make healthy eating and physical activity the way of life in Wake County. The AHA collaborative of more than 50 diverse organizations and community members is working to achieve this mission by shaping policy and environments that ensure affordable access to healthful foods and physical activity for all community members. More information is available at www.AdvocatesForHealthInAction.org.