Celebrating the Winners of the Powered by School Food Professionals Awards
March 13, 2025
Great things are cooking in California’s school kitchens. In every corner of the state, from San Diego to San Francisco and from the Klamath River to the Hollywood Hills, School Food Professionals are tapping into their skills and creativity to make our kids’ meals fresher, healthier and tastier.
On Wednesday, the Powered by School Food Professionals Awards gathered school food teams from across California at Jar Restaurant in Los Angeles to celebrate this vital work. Dozens of districts throughout the state submitted their best dishes for consideration, uplifting creative new recipes and exciting takes on student favorites. Using farm-fresh ingredients and scratch cooking techniques and tapping into the rich cultures of their students, communities and staff, they’re creating mouthwatering meals that are as good as they are good for you.
Supported by the Chef Ann Foundation, the Awards celebrated the incredible impact of School Food Professionals and the way they’re transforming school food in California. Los Angeles culinary legend Chef Suzanne Tracht recreated all the winning recipes for a tasting menu experience, demonstrating just how good school food can look and taste.
Without further ado, meet the winners of the Powered by School Food Professionals Awards.
Best Original Recipe: San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s Thai Basil Lentil Burger (San Luis Obispo, CA)
Originally created for a virtual student cooking class during the pandemic, San Luis Coastal’s Thai Basil Lentil Burger is a healthy, delicious taste of the community they serve. The dish captures the creativity and deep culinary expertise of their school food team, which is led by a Le Cordon Bleu Pastry Chef and a professional restaurant chef. The whole-grain bun and organic red lentils are sourced locally as part of their farm-to-school program, ensuring each bite of the dish supports student health and the community.
Best Scratch-Cooked Adaptation: Azusa Unified School District’s Chicken Wings (Azusa, CA)
When it’s wing day at Azusa Unified School District, you’d better act fast, because they go flying out the door. Azusa Unified supercharged their chicken-wing game by serving scratch-made, locally sourced organic wings coated with different sauces to match their students’ diverse tastes. Rather than deep frying, Azusa’s school food team oven-bakes the wings to achieve a satisfying crunch without compromising on health. This succulent and spicy recipe was created by trained chefs on the district’s school food team, and they are proud to be the first district in the San Gabriel Valley to serve organic chicken and beef raised using regenerative farming methods.
Best Take on a Culinary Trend: Upland Unified School District’s Vegan Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Bar (Upland, CA)
If you don’t think breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you haven’t tried Upland Unified School District’s Vegan Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Bars. Originally developed as the district was looking to incorporate their own student-cultivated, garden-grown lemons into the menu, the scratch-cooked bars give kids the flavors they love and the nutrients they need to succeed throughout the day. They were created in partnership with a plant-based recipe developer who has helped expose Upland Unified students to vegan creations like breakfast breads, tofu- and chickpea-based smoothie bowls and more.
Best Farm to School Recipe: Nevada City School of the Arts’ Whole Wheat Penne Pasta (Nevada City, CA)
Great things are sprouting up in Nevada City. The school food team at Nevada City School of the Arts developed this tasty and nourishing whole wheat pasta recipe to use surplus harvest items from their farm partners. It’s exploding with fresh veggies and other healthy products direct from local producers, including arugula, eggplant, fennel, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Created by Nevada City School of the Arts’ Food Service Director and their Student Engagement Coordinator (both trained chefs with extensive experience), the dish is a portrait of what delicious, local, farm-fresh and community-minded school food can be.
Best Culturally Relevant Recipe: San Diego Unified School District’s Birria (San Diego, CA)
The School Food Professionals at San Diego Unified School District bring all their passion and culture to the table. During lunchtime taste tests, they heard loud and clear that their students wanted to see Birria on the menu. The smoky, spicy, long-simmered Mexican stew is a taste of home not just for the students – more than half of whom are Latino – but for many of the staff as well. Using a recipe lovingly crafted by the district’s experienced culinary specialist, they have their students – and teachers – asking for seconds whenever they serve this delicious comfort food.
Community Choice Recipe: Marysville Joint Unified School District’s Kickin’ Kiwi Chicken Chili Verde (Marysville, CA)
Thousands of Marysville students can’t be wrong. Since introducing their Kickin’ Kiwi Chicken Chili to the menu, Marysville Joint Unified School District’s school food team has prepared and served almost 5,000 portions of this creative new dish. Their Community-Choice-winning recipe, which was voted on by students, parents, staff and school food advocates throughout California, taps into southwestern flavors and cooking methods that their students and School Food Professionals both love, and it’s packed with fresh, scratch-cooked ingredients. The kiwis are even sourced from a local farm that has a long-standing partnership with the district.
The afternoon was filled with food, fun and fellowship, as representatives of some of California’s best school food teams shared countless stories about the steps they’re taking to transform the meals they make throughout the state – using farm-fresh ingredients and scratch cooking techniques to chart a new future for school food. Most of all, they shared a commitment to California’s kids and to building healthier, happier and more successful futures, one tray at a time.