Local vegetables served at school

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- A West Hartford school is hosting salad bar Wednesday's, with locally grown vegetables.

The Salad Bar, a cornucopia in the cafeteria, and everyone has their "go to".

"Um string beans," Daniel Kamin said.

"My favorite vegetable is carrots," Cecilia Williams said. "My least favorite vegetable is celery."

With palletes like these, Chef Torla had quite the challenge. He had to stay in the federal food guidelines and use vegetables grown in the state.

"It's really, really clean food and that's what we're trying to introduce to the kids across the board," Chef Chris Torla, of Trumble Kitchen, said.

All of this food was prepared from locally grown farms. The pear, the apple sauce, even the pickled beets.

News 8 asked what looked best to Williams, she said, "The pear."

"They may be put off by the look of it or the color of it and then they try it and they really enjoy it and the feedback has been very very positive," Chef Torla said.

That's right, the chef gets feedback. Thumbs up or thumbs down on his butternut squash , pickled beets, and zucchini bread.

"It almost tastes like pumpkin bread," Marlena Bailey said.

News 8 asked, "Do you like zucchini bread?"

"Yeah," Bailey said.

"You know, there's vegetables in there," Stephanie Simoni, of News 8, said.

"There is?" Bailey said surprised.

When News 8 asked what Kamin thought, he said, "Really good."

News 8 asked what Williams what she thought of the pickled beets, and she said, "Um, they weren't my favorite."

The staff says the more they try, the more they like, and they'll start to crave the good stuff.

"Regardless of your size, if you're putting good food into your body then the outcome is going to be good," Janice Greene, the Nutrition Service Manager, said.

After the lunch, with only two thumbs down and the rest thumbs up, I think Chef Torla will be welcomed back.