What is a chef of 20 years, who has worked in the fine kitchens of the Ritz Carlton, the Chatham Bars Inn and the Harvard Club in Boston, doing in BCNC’s preschool classroom?  Serving homemade macaroni and cheese! 

BCNC’s Acorn Center for Early Education and Care provides bilingual Chinese/English full day toddler and preschool early education to 81 children and is one of the few centers in the area that provides on-site prepared hot meals for the children.  Two-thirds of the children we serve in the Acorn program are from low-income, working immigrant families.  In response to the growing obesity problem among low-income urban children, a few years ago BCNC worked with a nutritionist and its parent advisory board to revise its menu.  For every day’s breakfast, lunch and snacks, we eliminated foods high in trans-fatty acids, sugar and preservatives.  We added more whole grain products, including brown rice, fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as creative ways to eat vegetables.  Because we are committed to healthy nutrition for the children we serve, BCNC brought in German Lam to consult us on our efforts.

BCNC welcomed German Lam, head of Glam Foods, LLC, food coach who promotes healthy food and healthy living and father of two sons, to provide education and coaching to BCNC staff on how to create a more nutritious and cost-effective menu for the children of BCNC’s Acorn program.  By providing education, inspiration and information in an accessible way, Chef Lam has worked with local school districts to make their menus healthier.  Chef Lam worked with BCNC’s cook Ling to make the meals served more balanced and introduced new items, variations and more natural products.  He also coached Kathy Cheng, the director of Acorn, on how to work with food vendors in order to get the best quality and value when purchasing food and how to control inventory cost. 

The families that we serve are busy working parents, many of whom are immigrants and American foods are often new to their children.  With Chef Lam’s assistance, the children at Acorn are not only getting the best education and care to prepare them for the future, but also the best nutrition to help them grow up healthy and strong!