K-12 Foodscapes: Design Guidelines by Perkins Eastman

Healthy, climate-positive

K-12 Foodscapes

A spatial design guideline for healthy, climate-positive behaviors and joyful experiences during school meals

Author: Tristan Searight

Advisors:

Sarah Mechling / © Perkins Eastman

Andrew Rugge / © Perkins Eastman

Sarah Mechling / © Perkins Eastman

Andrew Rugge / © Perkins Eastman

Sarah Mechling / © Perkins Eastman

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the authors have used their best efforts in preparing this report, they make no representations or warranties with the respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this report and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the copyright holder nor the author shall be liable for damages arising here from.

Glossary

Foodscape

Foodscapes emerge at the intersection of daily life and the built environment, shaping people’s experiences of food. At schools, the foodscape primarily consists of kitchen operations and food services, dining spaces, and student life. A foodscape approach provides a student-centered perspective of how the built environment shapes food-related behaviors and experiences.

K-12 Food Goals

Goals that relate to the health, climate, and experience consequences of food-related behavior and practices.

K-12 Foodscape Spatial Categories

Spaces in schools that have the strongest influence on food-related behavior and practices: Kitchen operations, Foodservice Interface, and Dining Space.

Objectives

A set of four objectives for creating healthy, climate-positive K-12 foodscapes.

Design Strategies

Spatial implications of the objectives.

Foodscape Concepts

Concepts that combine design strategies to present bold actionable visions for K-12 school foodscapes.

Overview

“Nowhere in our food system are the constraints of time and money more pronounced than in schools: largescale food service, whether in hospitals, airplanes, or prisons, is inherently challenging. In the case of schools, hundreds of children must be fed in twenty-minute periods, with many schools starting lunch service before 10:00 a.m. on ingredient budgets limited to about a dollar per meal.

“

FoodCorps (2019)

These guidelines began with the simple question: what design interventions can catalyze a positive shift towards healthy, climatepositive behaviors and an increased sense of well-being during school meals? Building on previous school food environment research, this guideline uses a foodscape approach to synthesize design strategies to achieve goals centered on health, climate, and well-being. A foodscape approach focuses on how built spaces and student life intersect to shape food-related behaviors and experiences. This conceptual framework can provide a common lexicon for designers, students, school management, foodservice contractors, and school districts to distill food goals into their own built spaces and policy.

It is now well established that healthy, plant-forward dietary patterns are not only central to human health, but also foundational for climate goals where Green House Gas Emissions (GHGE), land use, water use, and pollution are curtailed.1–3 Food is the great connector. At schools, it’s not just the food itself that can improve student well-being, it’s the entire social and physical environment and time duration in which students experience

social connection, personal expression, interactive learning, and cultural meaning.4,5 Experiencing positive social interactions and developing meaningful relationships doesn’t just feel pleasant, it’s critical to a healthy life beyond school.6–8

With more than 30 million lunches served daily throughout the U.S.,1 schools are poised to positively transform public health and well-being while supporting a more climatepositive food system. Children consume half of their daily calories at school and thus, form habits around nutrition and social interaction during mealtimes.9 Many students—especially low-income students—rely on schools to provide their only nutritiously complete meals of the day.10 The need to shift students’ dietary patterns is clear: a third of American children between age 2–19 are overweight or obese;11 the global food system contributes to a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE);12 and 530,000 tons of school food is wasted annually.13 A shift towards plant-forward dietary patterns has been identified as the most powerful way of reducing the environmental impacts of the food system while reducing diet-related disease.1,14 But school menus fall short of offering plant-forward and unprocessed foods.15

Student health and well-being can also reap benefits from the unique break from classes that mealtimes provide. But studies4,5,16,17 show that students often experience crowding, overwhelming noise, confrontation, and physical discomfort in cafeterias,

resulting in poor nutrition, stress and anxiety. To intervene on these issues— to maximize the benefits of meals—and to address national health disparities, we must actively use school design for better food offerings and food-related experiences.

There is growing interest by schools and school districts in leveraging spatial design to tackle these major challenges. Building off recommendations put forward in scientific research,15,18 climate action plans,19,20 government initiatives,21 education specifications,22 and building standards,23 we developed a set of K-12 food goals under the categories: health, climate and experience. By drawing on research in behavioral economics24,25 and environmental psychology,26–30 speaking to foodservice experts, and reviewing studentcentered perspectives of school cafeterias,31–34 we found many spatial and programmatic challenges to positive shifts in food offerings and food-related experiences. These challenges exist in three categories of spaces that have the greatest impact on behavior and experiences: Kitchen Operations, Foodservice Interface, and Dining Spaces.

These spaces form a baseline K-12 foodscape design condition which reflects many typical aspects of cafeterias and student life. Using this baseline K-12 foodscape, these guidelines unpack key barriers and identifies opportunities for spatial interventions. First, kitchens and foodservice interfaces need facilities that compliment healthy, local food procurement strategies to provide appealing healthy plant-forward options. Meal offerings made from local plant-forward foods are few and out-competed by less healthy enticing options (like pizza and soda) because they are hard to procure, store, and prepare without additional equipment and space. Second, foodservice must be more interactive and offer options for personalization to boost joy and make healthy, climatepositive behaviors appealing and easy. Interactive food and nutrition learning experiences are left out of educational programming. Culinary activity and food are often hidden from view, meals cannot be personalized, and new

plant-forward options require extra promotion to be familiar and appealing. Third, we found that dining spaces must remain flexible while providing a comfortable, calming atmosphere and accommodating more agency over social privacy. Mealtimes tend to be stressful because they are too short and happen in overcrowded, loud dining spaces that offer few options to regulate physical and social relationships.

These key barriers inform a set of design strategies for improving the baseline foodscape. Design strategy effectiveness rests to a great degree on their ability to work well together and to work with supportive policies. To cover some of the wider policy and operational implications, and to provide the spatial implications of a synthesis of strategies, two design concepts are explored. The first, Chef’s Lab, presents an innovative approach to Foodservice Interfaces, where culinary activity takes center stage and celebrates healthy, climate-positive choices during mealtimes and as part of a larger curriculum. Comfy Caves and Commons is the second concept that mixes formal and informal spaces to stay to create a restful dining space and active community hub throughout the school day.

These concepts provide guidance to be employed according to a school’s needs. They can help kickstart collective efforts by designers, students, school management, foodservice contractors, and school districts to unlock the potential of design to build healthy, climate-positive foodscapes.

What design interventions can achieve a positive shift towards healthy, climate-positive behaviors and enjoyable experiences during school meals?

Research Question

Food Goals

Develop a set of K-12 food goals that benefit health, climate and experience.

Barriers

key barriers to food goals.

Strategies

Develop design strategies that help schools overcome barriers to food goals.

Unpack

The opportunity of healthy, climate-positive K-12 foodscapes

Food is not only a necessity for student health, but it also forms the basis for daily social interactions and personal expression, and it is a key component of climate stability. To draw benefits from food across these areas, there are specific goals within health, climate and student experiences that should be strived for.

The National School Lunch Program is the nation’s largest restaurant chain, with 30 million students fed daily.

Healthy plant-forward diets are also climate-positive. Most notably, the EAT-Lancet Commission report35 underscored the health and climate rewards that come from plant-forward diets that care mostly comprised of plant-based foods (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and plant-based proteins), have modest amounts of meat (especially red and processed meat), dairy, and limited added sugars. While the commission’s plant-forward Planetary Health Diet is focused on adults, it reflects public health guidance like the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans,36 which advise children increase their consumption of vegetables and plant-based proteins and cut down on sugary foods and beverages.

Our review of school food goals highlighted the need to provide students with fruits and vegetables, but especially plant-based alternatives to main meal options. In California, one study10 estimated that meat and cheese account for 96% of school protein offerings and make up 74% of the USDA food spending by school districts in the state.

Another study37 found large differences between the National School Lunch Program’s (NSLP) food intake

recommendations and the Planetary Health Diet, with the NSLP exceeding meat, dairy, and added sugar recommendations. The author indicates the potential health, climate and even cost benefits that could come from a shift towards healthy plant-forward offerings in schools.

The recommendations reflect a key point from a study in Science,38 which notes how “dietary change can deliver environmental benefits on a scale not achievable by producers.” For schools, this means prioritizing what food is being offered rather than just focusing on where the food is coming from. Local food sourcing can deliver climate benefits, but transportation only accounts for a small percentage of food-related emissions39—for most food products it is less than 10%. A study looking at food-related emissions in U.S. households40 found that they only reduce a maximum of 5% of emissions by completely sourcing from local producers. Whereas the same savings can be gained by shifting from consuming red meat or dairy to plantbased options for just one day per week (1/7 calories).

Schools are likely to face a similar outcome, where GHGE reductions from procuring all food locally is limited

(and often impractical) compared to large GHGE reductions from simple switches to plant-forward offerings, such as NYC’s “Meatless Mondays.”41

The Californian study calculated that Californian school districts would collectively save 220 million pounds of GHGE if they replaced beef burgers with black bean burgers just once a month.

Local food production has other important climate and health benefits. Procuring food from local farms or growing it on school grounds is a route to using unprocessed and fresh ingredients and bolster local food system “climate adaptation and resilience.”42 On-site food production has the unique capacity to serve as a learning environment for students and spark enthusiasm towards the foods grown. As noted in school food goals and students, hands-on food production of fruit and vegetables has a powerful influence on the value placed on healthy plant-based foods and foods unfamiliar to students.5,43 One incentive for incorporating gardening programs into schools is that “students who had the most exposure to gardening and culinary lessons ate up to three times more fruits and vegetables at lunch.”32

“Active-strategies” like cooking demonstrations, hands-on cooking,

Health

1/3 of 2–19-year-olds are overweight or obese in the U.S.11

3/4 of Americans meet or exceed the recommendation for meats, poultry, and eggs.55

30% increase in mortality risk associated with social isolation.57

Risk of cancer can be reduced by eating healthy plant-based diets according to the American Institute for Cancer Research.56

Climate

1/4 of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the food system.12

220 million lbs. of greenhouse gas emissions saved if California school districts replaced beef burgers with black bean burgers once a month.15

530,000 tons of school food is wasted annually in the U.S.13

Experience

50% and 80% of students in the U.S. said that noise and long lunch lines were a problem respectively.58

1/2 of mental health issues set in before the age of 14.59

42% of students in 2021 felt persistently sad or hopeless.59

Outdoor Access on a regular basis can improve stress moderation, improve behaviors and symptoms of ADHD and higher standardized test scores.30

Planetary Health Diet

Benefiting people and planet

The EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet is a healthy plant-forward diet that goes beyond the NSLP recommendations for whole vegetables, grains and plant-based protein intakes. The diet was developed by experts in health, environmental science, and agriculture. Together they developed this diet using “scientific targets for what constitutes both a healthy diet and a sustainable food system.”14

Displays vegetables by volume and other foods by contribution to calories. credit Willett et al. (2019)

“ “

School meals are a critical intervention to address racial and socio-economic health disparities among children who lack access to healthy food at home.

Friends of the Earth (2021)

gardening, and taste tests, are often considered the best methods to inspire healthy behaviors.44,45 This is especially true when it comes to eating unfamiliar foods: the School of Food is a teaching kitchen in London designed for children that enables students to grow and prepare their own food. The School explains how one student, previously adverse to beets, ate one “like an apple” after preparing a recipe with it.46

As schools shift to plant-forward offerings, educating and inspiring students to eat healthy is also essential to reducing food waste. It’s estimated that school food waste contributes to 1.8 million metric tons of GHGE annually and schools produce around 39.2 lbs. of food waste per student annually.47 The Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Hierarchy highlights how the best step to reduce waste is through increasing the relative amount of food consumed. Therefore, food waste can be lowered

if students actually like eating new healthy food options. Redistributing uneaten food to others is the next best reduction method followed by composting.

Mealtimes are unique during the school day as they are one of the few moments when students can rest and socialize outside of the class environment. Eating with others can build social bonds. The food writer Michael Pollan calls eating together a “social institution” and argues that it’s vital for children to learn communication skills.48

Bonding with others not only contributes to positive experiences6, but scientific studies also indicate developing good social relationships has profound impacts on health. One takeaway from the world’s oldest study on adult development is that “people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they’re physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected.”8 Social Isolation and loneliness is detrimental to health and increase mortality.7 Research also indicates that Generation Z is the “loneliest generation.”49

Meals offer a platform for students to improve social ties and support one

another. One study50 on school safety and security revealed that “students mostly rely on each other for support.” Mealtimes could have an important role in allowing students to support each other and improve challenges in young people’s mental health: 42% of students in 2021 felt persistently sad or hopeless51 and more than half of mental health issues develop before the age of high school graduation.50

Another gateway to well-being is rest. Cafeteria crowding, noise, and conflicts are common problems in many schools16,17,43 and tend to reduce the quality of social interactions and increase stress. Physical overstimulation from noise17 and a lack of personal space52,53 results in less positive social experiences, headaches, and even reduced consumption of vegetables and whole grains.17

Given that social connection and rest don’t always go hand-in-hand, K-12 foodscapes must cater to a variety of needs. Some students will enjoy the social activity by the lunch line and others will seek out quiet areas to have more personal space and calm. Much of the frustration around meal experiences revolves around a lack of agency to find a setting that accommodates changing daily needs and a variety of personal values. As the urbanist William H. Whyte simply put it, social comfort “means choice.”54

Three Key Food Goals for healthy, climate-positive K-12 foodscapes

Climate Health

Support healthy dietary patterns that strive beyond NSLP standards.

Reduce carbon emissions and resource use while bolstering food system resiliency to disruptions.

ACTIONS

More people eat healthy, plantforward dietary patterns.

Less consumption of processed foods and added sugars.

More people eat healthy, plantforward dietary patterns.

Experience

Provide positive social and restorative experiences, and add food delight.

More people have restorative mealtime experiences.

More people have positive social interactions.

More enjoyable sensory experiences with food during and outside of mealtimes.

What makes up a typical K-12 foodscape?

A foodscape approach accounts for how the built environment and daily life overlap to shape food-related behaviors and experiences.

K-12 school foodscapes consists of the kitchen operations and foodservice spaces, dining spaces and student life. These aspects of schools intersect in our baseline K-12 foodscape. It reveals how spatial design influences the student-dimension of food choices and experiences.

Our typical K-12 foodscape does not represent a singular school, but rather tries to highlight issues that are shared among schools. Elementary schools are included in the study, but the primary focus is on middle and high schools which lend more freedom to student choice making.

Kitchen operations and foodservice

These are the areas where food is stored, prepared, and served to students. Kitchens define what food is being served to students and how it tastes, giving them significant influence on the school’s dietary patterns. Foodservice is the servery area that defines how food is presented to students. Foodservice separates the communal area of the school from the kitchen operations, which is regarded as “back of house.” At this threshold, students interface with culinary activity and food messaging, meet foodservice staff, and make choices about what to eat.

Dining Spaces

Dining spaces are the areas where food is consumed. They are large communal areas and often serve wider functions like school assemblies, community meeting, and even sport activities. The design of these spaces often shapes the dining experiences of students and defines their ability to rest, socialize, and enjoy the mealtime experience.

Student life

Student life consists of a student’s activities across the school day and their interests. These activities happen in shared spaces and therefore reflect the relationships between friends, strangers, adversaries, and staff. Student life depends on the quality of the spatial setting, but also, time scheduling during the school day and the broader cultural values of the school and local district.

I like busy social situations

Today’s Challenges

Spatial and programmatic challenges to positive shifts in food offerings and food-related experiences

What are the barriers to healthy, climate-positive K-12 foodscapes?

Spatial and programmatic barriers in dining and food preparation spaces make it hard to provide healthy, climate-positive options and also in ways that appeal to students.

Lack of local food links

Foodservice providers find it difficult to source local healthy food because of the extra costs and need for additional equipment, kitchen space, and training.

Food is hidden and impersonal

Students do not feel connected to food—especially unfamiliar food— that they cannot see, smell, hear or personalize.

Poor availability and appeal of healthy options

Healthy plant-forward food is lacking and does not appeal to students when offered alongside less healthy, better marketed alternatives.

Disconnected from outside

Access to outside dining is often not provided. Quality views, indoor plants and natural light are typically lacking.

Loud

Large spaces and hard finishes elevate noise to uncomfortable levels.

Limited variety of spaces to stay

Staying options are basic and do not allow for comfortable long stays or regulation over social and physical relationships.

No facilities to reuse or recycle uneaten food

Food cannot be recycled or reused unless there are enticing spaces for sharing, composting or redistributing it.

Weak sense of place

Comfort and place identity is limited in bland spaces that do not provide decorative artifacts that speak to the joy of food and student values.

Food literacy overlooked

Students are not provided with interactive opportunities to learn about nutrition, food sustainability and food culture.

Limited time

Lunch periods are short, generally allowing students only 25-30 minutes to move from foodservice to food pickup, find a seat, eat, rest, socialize, and clear their food trays.

“ “ The dining experience is the totality of the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and social atmosphere.

Environments shape behavior

Whether it’s the physical scale of a food label,61 salad bar62 or street,63 the physical environment has powerful influences on people’s choices and long-term habits. Options that are easier (cognitively and physically) and more appealing are more likely to be taken than others.24,25 Everyday decisions, like food choices, in school cafeterias, are mostly automatic and habitual, and therefore are particularly susceptible to environmental influence.24

Ease and appeal can be leveraged to shift positive behaviors in K-12 foodscapes, so long as it aligns with student values. For instance, bread consumption in elementary-

Lack

of local food links

aged children doubled when it was cut into fun shapes.64 Similarly, when it comes to staying and socializing, edges of spaces where boundary objects support people physically and psychologically are appealing,65 and informal seating is more attractive to younger people than older generations.66 Appeal can be increased by educating people so that target behaviors are more noticeable and valued by individuals. But the best effects come from combining education with environments that allow people to make healthy, climate-positive choices effortlessly.

Poor availability and appeal of healthy options

Food is hidden and impersonal

Disconnected from outside

Limited staying options

No facilities to reuse or recycle uneaten food

Weak sense of place

Students depend on meals for sustenance but face barriers to choosing healthy options and experiencing food delight

“Simply providing healthy foods in the cafeteria—even if they are offered repeatedly— is usually not enough to inspire students to eat them, especially if the foods are unfamiliar.

“

Center for Ecoliteracy (2010)

“We have to educate the kids about healthy eating... If a kid wasn’t reading at grade level we would work harder to get them to read at grade level, but with food we’ve somehow abdicated that part of their education.

“

Ann Cooper, Foodservices Director at the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado quoted in Murphy (2015)

School food is essential to student nutrition. Children receive up to 50% of their daily calories from school meals.67 For many children, school meals might be the only complete meal they receive daily. One in eight children live in households that lack access to adequate food.68 Students from low-income household face greater difficulties accessing healthy complete meals outside of school and are set to gain the greatest benefits from healthy food offerings.15,58

Eating healthy and plant-forward food should be easy, but school meals can make it difficult. Not only are less healthy, sugary, and calorie-dense foods innately more attractive, mass targeted advertising of fast-food shapes children’s preferences.69 As one student put it, schools face an uphill battle to “make healthy food appealing to the junk-food filled mind of a teenager.”32 Leann Birch, a development psychologist, pointed

out that children acquire eating habits from parents and have a tough time adjusting to school food if it is different than what’s at home. “It’s harder to change preferences than to form them,”70 she says. However, Gen Z show interest in plant-forward consumption patterns. They place more value on environmentally sustainable products than other generations and 70% said they are interested in reducing meat consumptions.”10

Too often foodservice interfaces are not oriented to promote plant-forward choices and rarely allow students to provide input on the type of food that is served or personalize their meals. All else being equal, it is reasonable to presume students will choose pizza or cookies over healthier options. Plant-forward offerings require extra nudges to make them more enticing. Introducing more plant-forward options makes these choices easier. But additional interventions are needed

to make healthy food more appealing to students. Likewise, to reduce food waste, students not only need simple options to share or compost uneaten food, but they also need to be motivated to value these behaviors.

The design of most foodservice spaces is bland and fails to communicate “symbolic meaning” which can generate positive emotions.28 In contrast, retail food places do this effectively,63 they create brand experiences using engaging messaging and symbolic artifacts that exhibits the joys of food and speak to student values.

Designing on top of availability

Increasing the availability of a food item relative to all options can improve the likelihood that it will be chosen.24 But high availability alone is often not enough to increase an items choice, it must also be appealing. For instance, low-fat lunches are highly available—90% of schools offer them nation-wide. According to one study58 however, they place more value on environmentally sustainable food products than other generations and 70% said they are interested in reducing meat consumption.10 To get students to choose low-fat options, they must also be appealing.

“

I used to be a very picky eater, however after giving myself the initiative to prepare food for myself in class, I very quickly was able to expand the amount of healthy foods I would genuinely enjoy eating.

“

“ The challenge is to make healthy food seem appealing the menu has to change not the kids themselves.“

1 in 8 children live in households without access to adequate food

Student responses from “What Students Are Saying About Improving School Lunch”, The New York Times Learning Network (2020)

50% of student calories are consumed at school to the junk food-filled mind of a teenager.

“ I think that

to combat this wasteful eating,

Dining spaces and meal periods do not accommodate a range of social and restorative activity.

“ “ Mealtime should be a time for friends, and relationships.

Teacher in FoodCorps (2019)

Mealtimes provide a unique moment to take a break from the class setting, rest and socialize. However, the need for meal periods to be short and for dining spaces to serve multiple functions places barriers to rest and social comfort.

Dining spaces are often overwhelming, uncomfortable and impersonal. Work on student cafeteria experiences71 found that cafeterias are often associated with negative experiences. Hard surfaces are good for regular cleaning, but in busy settings they tend to amplify background noise. Without soft elements or quiet nooks, high sound levels in dining spaces hinder small group conversations, leaves some students with headaches, can reduce consumption of vegetables and whole grains, and is especially disruptive for children with environmental sensitivities like autism spectrum disorder.58,71,72

In shared spaces, people feel comfort by having agency over their physical relationship to others—having social choice. A lack of personal space and dining options contributes to physical and social discomfort. Research66,73 shows that people enjoy close proximities for face-to-face interactions with close friends (around 4–5ft) but prefer larger distances from less close friends and larger still for strangers. A study74 of restaurant diners showed that diners with wider spacing between their table and others enjoyed higher meal satisfaction. Social choice is rarely possible in dining spaces that only have a single seating density, few types of dining options and no dining options at quieter protected edges of the room.

Waiting in line is also an issue: a federal study found that 80% of students experienced issues with long lunch lines which are associated with crowding and “incivilities.”71 Long lines

can also exacerbate the time students have to sit and eat, some will even avoid “going through the line to just sit, relax, and talk.”31

Access to outdoor dining spaces can help alleviate overcrowding while offering additional wellness benefits. The benefit of increased time in quality outdoor spaces are well established and include improved stress moderation, the promotion of memory, improved behaviors and symptoms of ADHD and higher standardized test scores.30 Regular access to outside spaces is even linked to healthier dietary patterns scores in children.75

Food journeys at school take 25-30 minutes...

Time to eat

• 30 minutes lunch period in high schools.68

• 25 minutes lunch period in elementary schools.68

• 20 minutes seat time recommended by the CDC

• Even with 20–30 minutes, students can still feel too rushed to socialize and rest. 31,34

• A lack of time can reduce nutrition quality of meals—partly because whole foods take longer to consume—and increase food waste.72,73

“

“ ...we had about 20 minutes of lunch. It took about half that time to get through the lunch line. I remember my friends staying at our table and not going through the line to just sit, relax, and talk. Student in The New York Times Learning Network (2020)

“ “ Lunch is an opportunity to take a little break in life. Student in Caruso and Rosenthal (2020).

End class Wash hands Choose meal Choose seat Socialize Rest

Wait in line

Interact with food Dispose food Dine/seat time Observe food Check out

Start class

...but the time to sit, eat, socialize and rest is shorter.

Healthy, climate-positive meal options are few — schools require facilities and support to procure, store, and cook it

“ “

Nowhere in our food system are the constraints of time and money more pronounced than in schools... hundreds of children often must be fed in twentyminute periods, with many schools starting lunch service before 10:00 a.m. on ingredient budgets limited to about a dollar per meal.

FoodCorps (2019b)

Schools recognize the benefits of healthy food and enjoyable meals, yet it can be hard to reach these goals without improved facilities and additional meal program funding.

School student health has largely benefited from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Updated NSLP nutrition standards in 2010 improved nutritional quality of NSLP participants’ meals.74,75 Additionally, a study76 indicates that students ate more of their lunch with higher quality NSLP lunches.

However, schools struggle to produce meals within the tight budget of $3.32 per lunch in 2014–15,75 which results in ingredient budgets closer to $1,34 and still wastes large quantities of food.13

The NSLP is criticized 18,58,77 for the conflict of interest between student health and the intention to “create a market for U.S. agriculture” which has resulted in standards relying on refined grains, meat, and dairy. One study15 has noted how the mandatory dairy requirement in reimbursable meals is insensitive to the large portions of student of color that are unable to process lactose. The same study found that animal products make up 74% of USDA Food spending in California school districts. Recommendations in the study echo research that shows how revising the NSPL standards towards healthy plantforward dietary patterns could provide “high quality nutrition while benefiting the environment and reducing food costs.”18

Under-performing facilities also hinder the shift towards local, healthy, plantforward meal offerings. Kitchens are often unable to cook from scratch. But cooking from scratch can help schools rely less on processed foods and use local ingredients.19,78 Serving plant-forward meals made from local fresh ingredients require larger kitchen spaces, more sinks, and prep surfaces. Fresh produce storage calls for larger refrigerators and access to blast chillers and shock freezers. Scratch cooking with local ingredients is expensive and requires additional staff and training. It’s easier, and cheaper, for schools to outsource foodservice to contractors who provide prepared food to the school’s on-site “warming kitchen” which only has facilities for the final stages of food preparation.

To get students to make the healthy, climate-positive choice here...

A community asset

School kitchens and dining spaces play an important role in local communities. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how school’s large food store and kitchens can be leveraged for food storage and distribution in times of need.

Planetary Health Diet

Displays vegetables by volume and other foods by contribution to calories.

Cooking from scratch offers opportunities for imaginatively combining locally sourced ingredients, producing new recipes, and adding variety to menus based on a foundation of a few basic dishes.

Center for Ecoliteracy (2010)

...schools need to be able to cook, prepare, store and procure

Image credit: Willett et al. (2019)

Scratch Cooking

Design Strategies

Design strategies for improving the baseline foodscape

Four objectives for healthy, climate-positive K-12 foodscapes.

We developed a set of design strategies grounded in research findings to support healthy, climate-positive choices and joyful experiences in K-12 foodscapes.

Make healthy plantforward dietary patterns easy and enticing

1. Availability of easily accessible plantforward options.

2. Appeal of plant-forward options.

3. Opportunities to garnish and personalize meals.

4. Availability of free water stations.

Build value and interest in healthy, climate-positive food.

1. Rich visual displays of food and culinary activities.

2. Opportunities to have sensory interactions with foodservices.

3. Opportunities for interactive learning on healthy, climate-positive food choices and practices.

Shift towards an efficient local food system.

1. Ability to store and prep unprocessed and fresh ingredients.

2. Opportunities to grow food on-site.

3. Opportunities to support and distribute local food.

4. Ability to reduce the quantity of uneaten food.

5. Opportunities to reuse food waste and uneaten food.

Provide comfortable stays that accommodate various mealtime needs.

1. Soft finishes around staying spaces.

2. Decorations and artifacts that add a strong identity.

3. Sufficient sound insulation for reduced background noise.

4. Ability to regulate personal space through various dining options.

5. Access to comfortable outside dining options.

6. Opportunities to experience natural light and views of natural elements.

De

Design Strategies

4. Provide comfortable stays that acc ommodate various

S trategy Description Categor y Food Goals

Mini farms D edicate space on-site for simple, small-scale farming

Food Recycling and Reuse Station

Provide compost and food share facilities that enable collection and reuse of uneat en food.

Scratch Kitchens

D esign kitchens that cook from scratch to make flavorful plantforward menus and can handle fresh and local ingredients 1

K itc hen O perations Health

Foodservice Interface Climate-Positiv e

Dining Spaces Experienc e

K itc hen O perations Health

F oods erv ice I nterface Clima te- Positiv e

Dining Spaces Experience

K itc hen O perations Health

Foodservice Interface Climate-Positiv e

Objectives

Chef's Theater

Teaching Kitchens

D esign open kitchens t hat provide strong sensory connections to food and culinary activity.

D esign spaces t hat can support hands-on food education and demonstration cooking

Health F ood Hub

Positive Messages

Bring healt hy plant-forward options and drinking water to the front and center of the foodservice.

D eploy signage and messaging that promotes healthy plantforward choices and create add identity to foodservices

Intim ate Nooks

Distributed Foodservice

Provide small nooks that can be used for intimate dining experiences.

D istribute foodservices into smaller scale options across the school campus.

Sof t Hats Ut ilize the ceiling and walls to mediat e acoustics and to add spatial articulation in dining spaces

Dining Option

Abundance

Outdoor Dining

Form two or more dining zones of different seating densit ies and provide a variety of seating and table combinations

Provide easily accessible comfortable outdoor dining spaces beside internal dining areas

Dining Spaces Experience

K itc hen O perations Health

F oods erv ice I nterface Climate-Positive

Dining Spaces Experienc e

Kitchen Operations Health

F oods s erv ice I nterface Clima te- Positiv e

Dining Spaces Experienc e

Kitchen Operations Health

F oods erv ice I nterface Clima te- Positiv e

Dining Spaces Experience

Kitchen Operations Health

F oods erv ice I nterface Clima te- Positiv e

Dining Spaces Experience

Kitchen Operations Health

Foodservice Interface Climate-Positive

Dining Spaces Experienc e

Kitchen Operations Health

F oods e erv ice I nterface Climate-Positive

Dining Spaces Experienc e

Kitchen Operations Health

Foodservice Interface Climate-Positive

Dining Spaces Experienc e

Kitchen Operations Health

Foodservice Interface Climate-Positive

Dining Spaces Experienc e

Kitchen Operations Health

Foodservice Interface Climate-Positive

Dining Spaces Experienc e

Foodscape Concepts

Bold and actionable visions for K-12 school foodscapes that combine design strategies.

Foodscape Concepts

In the following guidelines, we present “Foodscape Concepts” that illustrate bold, actionable visions for K-12 school foodscapes by synthesizing design strategies.

Two concepts, (1) Chef’s Lab, and (2) Comfy Caves and Commons, transform the typical K-12 foodscape into a place where students can thrive with healthy choices, social activities, and restful experiences. These concepts involve a few organizational design moves that should be incorporated into the school’s overall design. If the full design concepts cannot be implemented, incorporation of single organizational design moves and ad hoc design elements can significantly transform K-12 foodscapes.

From undervalued and stressful spaces

Baseline plan Before Foodscape Concepts

Kitchen operations

Foodservice interface

Dining Spaces

Make healthy plant-forward dietary patterns easy and enticing.

Shift towards an efficient local food system.

Build value and interest in healthy, climate-positive food.

Provide comfortable stays that accommodate various mealtime needs.

To a welcoming place for healthy, climate-positive choices, social activities, and rest.

Integrated foodscape concepts

Chef’s Lab

Chef’s Lab puts culinary activity center stage and celebrates healthy, climatepositive choices during mealtimes and as part of a larger curriculum. The concept brings personalization and rich sensory experiences of food to students.

Comfy Caves and Commons

In Comfy Caves and Commons, dining spaces overlap with commons spaces to create restful dining space and an active community hub. A mix of dining options and staying spaces are designed to keep the spaces flexible, while accommodating a range of restful and social needs.

A place for healthy choices, social activities and rest.

What is the student experience of Foodscape Concepts?

Healthy express options

Chef’s Lab

More sophisticated kitchens and expanded foodservice interface for fast, healthy meals.

Rest/Play before and after dining

Comfy Caves and Commons

Today we’re making tacos

What are they cooking?

Longer meal periods and opportunities to linger in the dining space allow restful activities even when students are not dining.

Regular food education

Chef’s Lab

Hands-on cooking supports long term healthy, climatepositive food choices and practices.

Learn about enticing healthy choices

Chef’s Lab

Observe and interact with culinary activity

Chef’s Lab

While in line, food displays and positive messaging boards make mealtimes and healthy choices enjoyable and appealing.

Viewing windows and an open kitchen connects students to foodservice staff and practices, adding to foodservice identity.

What’s up! How’s it going?

ft.

Choose and personalize healthy plant-forward foods

Chef’s Lab

A central health food hub makes the healthy, climatepositive choices easy and appealing.

Easily share or compost uneaten food

Chef’s Lab

Food share tables and compost options helps students and foodservice reduce food waste.

Socialize in energetic groups while eating Comfy Caves and Commons

Rest while eating in quiet nooks

Comfy Caves and Commons

A range of movable furniture in the heart of the dining room enhances social connections.

Comfortable, intimate dining options provide mealtime refuge for those who need calm.

Chef’s Lab

Chef’s Lab puts culinary activity center stage and celebrates healthy, climate-positive choices during mealtimes and as part of a larger curriculum. The concept brings personalization and rich sensory experiences of food to students.

Teaching kitchen Scratch Cooking

Healthy food island

Theater kitchen Reuse and recycle station

Concept Organization

Space for scratch cooking

Scratch cooking requires more area than “warming kitchens”—around double the floor area for a base kitchen of 1,000 sf and above. Around half the area should be for food storage (dry and cold) and half for prep. Scratch cooking also requires about 90% of cold storage for refrigeration and 10% percent for freezers.58

Teaching beside main kitchen

Locate the teaching kitchen near the main kitchen and commons, and if possible, outside garden spaces. Though the main kitchen is not accessible to students, viewing windows and domestic cooking equipment can provide students with a sense of being part of a larger professional cooking culture. Aim for 16–20 sf per student depending on equipment.

Prominent Theater Kitchen

Position the theater kitchen in a prominent position in the dining space floor plan and, if possible, in adjacent commons spaces. Ensure cooking and prep stations are oriented towards students in the foodservice line and dining space.

Expanded foodservice interface

Increasing the foodservice interface zone can enable additional service lines—such as an express service line— and/or add more personal space as well as provide room for a dedicated health food hub. The increased size should be orientated for clear visual sight lines from the dining space into the kitchen. This space should lead students from the entrance and follow wall edges.

Walls that display healthy food

The richest sensory connection with food and foodservice members can be achieved through full- or half-height openings at the foodservice line. These enable students to see, smell, and hear meal preparation and converse with foodservice staff. Viewing windows with deep, low sills also allow students to rest and watch theater kitchen activities and see stored ingredients.

Expanded Foodservice Interface

Prominent Theater Kitchen

Teaching kitchen beside main kitchen

Walls that display food

Space for scratch cooking

Design Elements

Utilize these elements in the design concept where appropriate.

Plan kitchen’s loading dock for more than one delivery at any time.

Access lanes and loading docks should accommodate multiple daily deliveries and simultaneous truck access.58

E

Food share station by food disposal.

A dedicated food share table near food disposal options allow students to share any uneaten food. Positive messaging and clear instructions should accompany the table.

Display Shelves.

Install display shelving in and around the kitchen spaces to show ingredients, books, and culinary equipment.

Domestic equipment for hands-on cooking.

Domestic cooking, wash, and prep stations are preferred for teaching kitchens. Ideally, these should be designed with storage space below and be height-adjustable with flush induction hobs.

Alternative: Hands-on cooking can be performed on low-cost movable stainless-steel tables with loose equipment powered by overhead extendable power cords. This provides extra flexibility in the space.

Provide a central self-serve bar.

Give plant-forward options a special, celebrated position in the foodservice using a self-serve bar. Plan a movable double-sided self-serve “salad” bar to be easily accessible by students and staff, and clearly visible.

Alternative: Design foodservice to serve healthy plant-forward options at the start of the service line counters.

Alternative: Garnish items (spices and sauces) allow students to personalize their meals.

Apply vibrant finishes to visible wall surfaces in kitchens.

Add vibrancy to the kitchen spaces that are on view to students using colorful or patterned wall tiling or finishes.

Build in commercial stoves and griddles and orient for display cooking.

A prominent central cooking station by the foodservice counters provides the best display cooking experience. Alternative: Where scratch cooking is not possible, try providing a “finishing” griddle where precooked food is briefly heated beside foodservice counters.

J

Roll up doors.

These can be used to allow for wide openings into the kitchens. The teaching kitchen benefits from roll up doors as it provides space for classes and demonstrations.

K Dedicated walls space for engaging messaging.

Use bold messaging to encourage healthy, climate-positive choices. Permanent message boards can add identity to foodservices, while marker boards enable messaging that changes to reflects the season or daily menu.

Provide blast chillers and shock freezers for fresh food storage.

The use of fresh local ingredients mean kitchens may need to rapidly freeze items to keep them from spoiling and safe for later consumption.

Functional Details

Use robust tough finishes (like stainless steel) on kitchen surfaces below a 4–5 ft. vertical datum, where use and cleaning is most frequent. Above this line take advantage of surfaces to add warmth and decoration to offset a potentially clinical atmosphere. H

L Viewing Windows

Create connections to the kitchen using internal glazed openings. Glazing can provide a noise and hygiene barrier while enabling curated views from the common or dining space.

Mini Farms can complement the learning experience of the teaching kitchen and, if large enough, provide vegetables to a scratch kitchen.

Finishing stations at the counters add delight and interactive personal experiences to food service when scratch cooking is not possible.

Scratch cooking cold storage:

≈ 90% refrigeration

≈ 10% freezers

Quick Win

Garnish items (spices and sauces) allow students to personalize their meals.

Hands-on cooking can be performed on movable stainless-steel tables with loose equipment powered by overhead extendable power cords. This provides extra flexibility.

Quick Win

Design foodservice to serve healthy plant-forward options at the start of the service line counters.

Image: Avenues

The World School, New York, NY

Image: Watkins Elementary School Washington, DC

Spatial Elements

Viewing windows to culinary activity

Quick Win

Catch students’ attention with bold, simple statements and use highlights and icons to add interest to healthy, plant-forward options.

TODAY’S MENU

Choice 1

Choice 2

Boxing options, adding icons and using enticing descriptions on messaging boards help nudge students towards healthy options.

Use display shelves by foodservice counters and graphical displays of food (like printed tiles) to enhance place identity and add visual food delight even when scratch cooking is not possible.

950 sf total wall area (below 14 ft)

35% surface area for food displays 20% surface area to message

Quick Win

Provide hand sanitization or wash stations at entry and exit.

Food displays and theater

Image: Essex Technical High School Hawthorne, MA

Image: Watkins Elementary School Washington, DC

Supportive Policies

Salad Bars to Schools

FRESHFARM FoodPrints

FRESHFARM FoodPrints partner with schools to offer hands-on food growing and cooking workshops. Each workshop runs for a half day during which students learn how to make healthy meals in gardens and kitchens. The model includes providing schools with trained staff and support creating on-site gardens and teaching kitchens.

Key features of foodprint workshops

> Sessions take place over an entire school morning.

> Requires at least two trained staff to run a school’s program.

> Parents can be invited to take home some of the ideas.

> A dedicated teaching kitchen is ideal (includes basins, stoves, refrigerators, storage, a demonstration island and a flexible teaching space).

Food Educators

Teaching kitchens require staffing. A full or part-time Food Educator is needed to run the lessons and maintain this space and support other food-related initiatives.

Taste Tests

Getting students involved in the food offerings can happen without teaching kitchens. Taste tests allow students to try new food and choose what they like best—it makes the unfamiliar familiar. D.C. Central Kitchens have “Fresh Feature Fridays” where students try different options of a new menu item and vote which one should be served in the following weeks. With a teaching kitchen, consider ways to enable cooking activities to allow students to inform what plant-forward food is offered during mealtimes.

This program raises money to donate salad bars to schools. Salad Bars to Schools was set up to help students choose and enjoy vegetables after portions became a requirement in the NSLP in 2010. The initiative provides guidance on implementing bars to “tempt students with a dazzling array of fruits and vegetables.” In particular, the program provides resources that help schools comply with regulations, design suitable salad menus, and get students excited about the options. Their advice highlights the importance of making the salad bar a themed place where students are educated and are involved in the food they get to see.

Healthy only

Ensure express “grab and go” options, the first and last foodservice counters, and any centrally located bars, are used to offer healthy options only (no calorie-dense sugary or highly processed foods).

Plant-forward procurement

Procure food using a value-based approach that strives beyond the NSLP minimum requirements towards the latest scientific standards of health and climate-positive diets, such as the Planetary Health Diet.14 Examples like the Good Food Purchasing Program, Alliance for a Healthier Generation can provide healthy, climate-positive benchmarks for value-led food purchasing policies. See Center for good Food Purchasing in Austin.80

Sharing Food

Implement Share Tables where students can return whole or unopened food they choose not to eat. Uneaten food can be planned to be reused as compost at an on-site Mini Farm or distributed to local growers. Share table and composting require management, in middle or high schools this can be a student led initiative.

Offer Versus Serve

Implement Offer Versus Serve (OVS) program to reduce food waste. In OVS students are offered five required food items and must select at least three (one selection at lunch must be at least ½ cup from either the fruit or vegetable) giving them choice over what they want to eat.

Cashless payment

Ensure food payment systems are cashless to reduce stigma of students receiving reduced or free meal programs.

Comfy Caves and Commons

Solo/couple dining options

Supportive stay options

Busy dense dining zone

Comfy hats

Edge nooks

Island nooks

Concept Organization

Keep the central zone flexible. Plan intimate nooks near edges of the dining space that can be packed up when necessary. A variety of movable and even modular furniture in the main central zone gives students choice and allows the space to rearranged.

Build intimate nooks from wall spaces.

Wall spaces are useful for intimate nooks as they provide one side of protection, keep the main floor area clear, and enable opportunities to lower the ceiling height. Built-in booths should be positioned where the wall clearance is not an issue.

Integrate the dining space with the commons.

Combine the dining and commons to enable a wider variety of restful and social opportunities and more flexibility. Space around the entrance should enable students to move easily while providing them with informal rest options. Provide wide access to and from the dining area while ensuring it can be closed off partially or fully. Utilize internal windows to maximize visual connection and the sharing of natural light between these areas.

Keep the central zone flexible

Build intimate nooks

Integrate the dining space with the commons

Design Elements

Utilize these elements in the design concept where appropriate.

Seating density for social connection and personal space

Zone the dining space for seating densities that vary around 20 sf per person in quieter zones and around 10 sf in more energetic zones. A

Secondary informal seating

Secondary seating, in the form of objects like steps or ledges that serve multiple uses, enable a variety of purposes and sitting styles. These support casual stays and informal interactions.81

Ceiling that limits reverberation

Use acoustic panels on the ceiling and ensure noise from HVAC systems and kitchen operations is mitigated with insulation or noise canceling systems. For comfortable conversations, aim for levels less than 40 dBa in dining spaces.22,82

Table spacing

In quieter dining zones, aim to provide smaller tables of 2–6 people that have 4–8 ft clearance from neighboring tables. In more energetic social areas, larger group tables with 3–4 ft clearances can be used. B

High top dining options by student flows.

High top dining options enable seated diners to share a similar eye-level as people standing. This can support social activity for diners beside busy walking areas.

Built in booths for maximum privacy.

Built-in booths with high backs provide strong protection and should be used to create intimate nooks. Where built-in booths is not possible, modular seating with high backs can be used.

Spacious main pathways

Provide a main pathway 5–6 ft. wide for students to circulate through dining space with trays and avoid unwanted contact.

Movable

modular seating

For the dense seating zones, use seating that can be easily moved to clear or reconfigure the space. Modular table sets and lightweight plastic or metal seats are good options.

Retractable

canopies

Celling clouds and awnings that can be retracted add intimacy, reduce background noise, and enable a degree of flexibility of the dining space. Ensure soft lighting is included underneath the canopy. K

Wide open entrance

Create strong connections between the dining space and the surrounding commons that allow ample space for movement and opportunities to congregate nearby. Folding or sliding doors can maximize open area.

Windows

for views

Design window openings to bring in natural light and for window-side dining with views to outside areas. Dining tables and seats can be oriented directly outwards for oneon-one and solo meals, or beside windows to provide benefits of daylight and access to views.

Decorated surroundings

Work with graphic and textural wall finishes, color, sculptural artwork, and plants to bring a clear identity to the dining space that speaks to student values and the joys of food. L

Quick Win

Dining tables and seats can be orientated towards outside views for dignified one-on -one and solo meals.

Diners experience greater meal satisfaction when they can sit closely in a group but have generous space from other dining groups.84

Folding or sliding doors can maximize open area available to access the dining and common spaces.

Secondary seating is popular with younger people who are happy sitting on a variety of surfaces informally.66,83

Secondary furniture works well as built in elements like stairs.

Spatial Elements

For comfortable conversations, aim for levels less than 40 dBa in dining spaces.22,82

Intimate nooks can use movable seating, and benefit from distinctive floor and wall finishes and lowered ceilings.

Quick Win

Maintain good surveillance by keeping booth seating shallow and providing openings in the booth structures at head level.

Soft textiles are not only comfortable, they add decoration and sound insulation to a space.

Image: Concordia International School Shanghai

Image: Martin Luther King Jr. School Cambridge, MA

Supportive Policies

Lunch and Learn

Lunches at Alexandria City High School happen in a single 74-minute period. To cater for 1,600 students, the school’s new foodservice was designed as a distributed network. In this distributed foodservice strategy, students can choose from a range of foodservice and staying options across four levels.

This Lunch and Learn model was developed to provide students with more time to eat while giving them opportunities to join student clubs and access tutoring. Lunch and Learn provides students with greater agency over their mealtime experience, opportunities to work and learn and, if they need it, more time to relax.

Extended Lunches

Extend the length of lunch periods by viewing lunch as a core part of student learning and well-being, rather than something that interrupts learning time. Aim to offer lunch periods longer than 30 minutes.

Staffing intimate nooks

A more dispersed and nook-orientated dining system might require more staff to oversee student activity. A staff member who greets students at the entrance of the dining hall can play a role in the student’s sense of place and surveillance.

Secure outside access

Plan open access to outside dining that does not require opening doors or passing a secure lobby. Outside dining spaces that are situated behind secure boundaries, in courtyards or above ground level can ensure a level of safety that enables this type of openness.

Self-service in classrooms

For classroom dining in elementary schools, consider ways of allowing students to serve one another. Provide sinks in classrooms and access to food service equipment that enables food service by young students.

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