School Lunch
Both lunch and snacks will be made in-house using high-quality and seasonal ingredients, organic whenever possible. Our school chef, Natsuko Yamawaki will plan the balanced and nutritious menus monthly. Everything we serve will be free of preservatives and flavor additives. We sincerely care about the children's well-being and experience with the food. It is our hope that they will grow up appreciating wholesome homemade food rather than factory-made mass produced food. They will have meals full of seasonal ingredients, freshly cooked rice, nutritious soups, and healthy snacks.
あおぞらプリスクールでは、昼食もおやつも、可能な限り質の高いオーガニックで旬の素材を使って作ったものを提供しております。スクールシェフの山脇奈津子さんが毎月健康的でバランスの良いメニューを開発してくださっており、保存料や化学調味料などは一切使用していません。子ども達の健康とそして食べ物に対するポジティブな気持ちを育むことを大切にしています。子どもたちが大人になった時に、大量生産の加工食品ではなく健康的な手作り料理の方を好んでくれるようにと願っています。あおぞらの子ども達は、季節の素材を使ったおかずや、炊きたてのご飯、栄養たっぷりのスープや健康的なおやつなどを毎日食べています。
Health Food Policy
NUT FREE: Aozora Gakuen facility is a nut free environment in order to protect the children who suffer from a severe allergy to nuts and nut by-products. Therefore, we will never use any nuts or nut products in the school kitchen. However, we will not be able to avoid food products manufactured in a facility that nuts ingredients may also be used. So, if your child has a severe allergy to nuts, your child should not be in the school lunch plan.
NON-GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms): We believe that non GMO products are a healthier choice for us and for our environment. We avoid GMO products such as non-organic: canola, cotton seeds, soy, sugar beets (all non-cane sugar) and rice from China.
ORGANIC: We select organic ingredients as much as possible because organic foods contain far fewer pesticides than conventional foods and contain more micronutrients and phenols. Organic food contributes to a healthier environment for all of us including the farmers.
FOOD ADDITIVE FREE: Food additives are not natural nutrition for humans. Our bodies are not meant to be exposed to the level of food additives that are present in our foods. Small children are especially sensitive to such chemicals. Food additives are known to cause children various physical and mental health problems. In addition, even though individual additives are tested for safety, long term cumulative effects and the combination of two or more additives are not. Therefore, we avoid food additives completely.
REFINED SUGAR (ALMOST) FREE: We don’t use processed refined sugar such as white/brown sugar, agave nectar, evaporated cane juice, etc. Instead, we use organic stevia (a natural plant extract), coconut (palm) sugar/syrup, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, and amazake (a traditional Japanese drink made from fermented rice). These sweeteners are less processed, more nutritious, and don’t cause a surge in the blood-sugar as quickly. We also generally use much less sweetener than a recipe calls for.