
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 14, 1994                   TAG: 9407140085
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

FOOD PROGRAM GETS 'EXCELLENT' FOR ITS EFFORT

At Wednesday's "We Serve Smiles" food fair, vendors and cafeteria workers praised the tasty and "good-for-you" foods they spooned out to those who came to sample the Montgomery County schools' cafeteria food.

"I have a broken wrist from serving so much pizza," said Margaret Macher, an SMR Food Service vendor working the Tony's pizza stand. She urged me to try a slice, and after all, it was lunchtime.

I gave the regular pizza a "good" taste rating on the evaluation form, but I really liked the "low-fat" cheese pizza better. Even if I weren't a vegetarian, I would've turned down the new, "low sodium" Gwaltney franks, another favorite with students.

"These chicken patties aren't too bad," said photographer Alan Kim of a grilled chicken breast with no batter. "Might be a little too spicy, though."

I gave the "Sea Star Ocean Treats," a batter-dipped fish entree, an average ranking because I couldn't figure out what kind of fish it was.

Alan sampled the batter-dipped dinosaur nuggets (chicken-shaped like dinosaurs) and described it as "conveyer belt food with a stamped out flavor."

But keep in mind, Alan is a self-proclaimed cynic.

I liked the homemade peanut butter cookies, and the french fries were just the way I like them - mushy but not too soft to break, with just enough salt to make them tasty.

Alan said the lasagna (which I thought was tasteless) tasted more like stuffed manicotti.

Finally, I really liked the "cheddar-flavored potato pearls" and the batter-dipped vegetable sticks (but I'm one of those strange people who loves vegetables, and even stranger - who loved cafeteria food in elementary school).

The apple sticks just didn't cut the mustard.

Overall, I give the Montgomery County School Nutrition program an "excellent" for continually trying to balance a healthy meal with a happy belly.

by CNB