How to Feed NYC's Largest Middle School | On The Job | Priya Krishna | NYT Cooking

I'll have broccoli and mozzarella sticks. Thank you. Oh my god. This is really stressful. Where do I sit? Do I just sit by myself? I guess so. This is really triggering right now. Let's rewind here. In a few hours, this quiet school will be buzzing with middle schoolers. In fact, it's the largest middle school in New York City. And every one of these 2,000-plus students will need to eat. With over 1,800 public schools serving over 1 million students, the New York City public school system is the biggest in the United States. How does the system possibly feed all these students every single day? This question led me to Ruth, a lunch cook who leads the charge in feeding young New Yorkers at IS-61 Leonardo da Vinci School. Manuel, I need trays, please. Ruth is not a chef who gets written up in glossy food magazines. But she is doing vital work, ensuring that the next generation can make it through the school day. Wow. This is really taking me back. Oh man. I didn't really love high school, but I loved middle school. Like it's sort of that in-between years where it's okay to be super awkward and weird. I was awkward and weird. Still am. This school is huge. There are 2,100 students that go here. This is significantly larger than my middle school, for sure. Wow. 2,100 students eat here? I can't wait to see this all filled up with kids. I'm getting mild anxiety over like, where would I sit in the cafeteria? Where would I belong? Okay. And here we are. This is where it happens. Hi, Ruth. Hi. What are you making? We're making bean salad. This looks good. Okay, so esto tiene cebolla, frijoles, aceite, sal, y mucho amor. ¿Alguna comida que no puede hacer? Yo que sepa, todavía no. A las 4 para las 7, el breakfast, que todo esté preparado para ese día, para servirlo. Next bag, we prepare granola, the fruit. Después, chequeo los menús. My earliest love of food and restaurants came from the monthly drop of our school's lunch menu. White bean and pasta primavera, that sounds fantastic. Chicken tenders, great, always. Today's mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce, incredible. My first week here, we had a fire drill. And just the fact that we were able to get 2,000 plus students out of the building and in the building within a five or six minute time span, that was the moment I think I realized the scale of IS61. And then when you start considering that we need to feed these children every day, you really start noticing how much work does go into it, especially when you're providing the breakfast, lunch, and snacks after school. It's not just one meal. It could be every meal for the day. We have about 90% of our students that are free or reduced lunch. I think the number one priority is to continue the feeding program, where students shouldn't have to pay for that. If we want education to be a priority, then food and getting students to make sure they're eating enough is number one before education. Spaghetti sauce, and we have the choice of green cheese too. Peanut butter and cheese sandwich bowl. We have the veggies, the bean salad. Okay, thank you. You're a superhero. I've been working in jewelry for nine years. I was a designer, I sold earrings, jewelry in general. How did you find this job? A friend told me that I had applied for this job at school. I haven't had experience in another food business, but I think this job is the biggest there is. How does it feel? It's just like any other day. She's so chill. It's a non-stop flow of constant people going through, and they have to manage the portions to see what's running out and make sure it gets filled as fast as possible. There is no gaps, there is no waiting. Thank you very much! After the first period, we count the leftover portions and according to that, we add more. Because we always have about 300 portions of hot food, plus how cold it is, the years. She's running six ovens simultaneously. One sauté pan. She's cleaning. We need more roofs working in our restaurants and bakeries, that's for sure. What feels unique about feeding New York City school kids versus other New York City institutions? Well, you have a tough audience, obviously, with the students. What do you think about the food here? What if I have no response? I don't mind the lunch, and it's always usually something there that I'll eat, and it's always something that I prefer. First of all, remove these things, whatever they are. Remove these things? You don't like beans? It feels like I'm eating sand. Okay, I mean, that's concrete feedback. I grew up in this neighborhood. I remember the hamburgers not really being hamburgers. What were they? I don't know what they were, but I wasn't happy about hamburgers then. I can tell you there's a big change in the lunch. It's a lot more healthy and it tastes better than what it was when I went to school, obviously. What's your favorite thing that you've eaten in this cafeteria? Pizza and burgers. The mozzarella sticks. What would you rate the school lunches here? I'd rate them a solid B+. B-plus is pretty good. B-plus, we're making the honor roll. Is it okay if I cut? Okay. Could I have some beans? I'll have broccoli and mozzarella sticks. Thank you. Oh my god. This is really stressful. Where do I sit? Do I just sit by myself? I guess so. This is really triggering right now. This is what I'm here for. These are amazing. When you're an adult and you have to cook for yourself, you're just appreciative of what anyone cooks for you. My fridge does not have any fresh produce in it right now. This is tasting great. You have the largest middle school in the city where she's running around feeding and then the pandemic hits. And while everybody else is at home, she now has to up her game and feed more of the community. So it never ended for her. We were a pickup site. People would go to the door and then they would get as many prepared food as they wanted to take with them. So you'd have people come with carts and big bags and they would take many for their family. So they had to be prepared when they ran out to keep making. It wasn't like now, it's okay, I have my first period done, let me go to my second period. It's like there could be a line and we had lines. There were days when we got 4,000 breakfasts and 4,000 lunches. And that's not easy with a staff of maybe 10 people. Helping a community go through a pandemic and then going back to just helping the students every day get through their day just shows the type of person that Ruth is.