The Las Virgenes Unified School District recently partnered with Wildflour Bakery & Café, a kosher bakery in Agoura Hills, to serve a variety of healthy breads in 21 of its schools. The main objective of the partnership is to serve LVUSD students kosher, whole grain bread that will also gain high approval from students.
Wildflour Bakery uses only natural ingredients in its pastries, with a goal of serving only the freshest and highest quality bread. The bakery will supply LVUSD schools with whole grain items such as pretzels, mini-baguettes, dinner rolls and bread sticks. The variety will increase when the LVUSD Child Nutrition Department knows which items the students prefer. After analyzing student preferences, the district will revise its orders with the bakery.
“The breads are all hand-made with natural ingredients and no preservatives,” said Wildflour Bakery owner Gregory Yulish. “The products [LVUSD] received before were made by machine, but these products are made by hand. That gives [the district] a better product overall.”
The large serving size of whole grains in Wildflour’s breads adheres to the California state government’s initiative to serve children the proper amount of whole grains needed for adequate health. According to a California Watch analysis survey, 60 percent of the school lunches reviewed by the state in the past five years failed to meet at least one federal nutritional requirement.
According to wholegrainscouncil.org, consumption of whole grain foods can reduce many health risks such as strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, obesity and heart diseases. In recent years, the federal government has advocated for better nutrition in public schools, which helped prompt change.
“I really like the idea of being able to buy breads and breakfast items that are freshly baked that morning with natural ingredients,” said Waleska Cannon, LVUSD Director of Child Nutrition. “We are also buying locally and that is really a win-win situation. I hope the students try and like these items because it will help in forming successful partnerships, and in turn they can have fresher, more natural choices.”
Wildflour Bakery was selected largely because it would accommodate all of the schools’ needs. LVUSD believes that the small, local bakery will be able to focus on the details of its products and the health benefits of local consumers in a better way that a larger brand-name company simply would not.
“I think this partnership is good for the community,” said Yulish. “Our kids go to school in LVUSD, and [by partnering with the district] we are giving back to the community.”
Wildflour Bakery advocates for local partnerships. Currently, the bakery also supplies whole grain products to Oak Park Unified School District as well as several Calif. Four Seasons resorts.
