MOVE OVER, chicken nuggets. Make room for Asian noodles with
lime chili sauce and seasonal vegetables. In an effort to
incorporate healthier foods in students' diets, two of Marin's
largest school districts are training their food staffs to cook
from scratch. Their goal is to gradually replace packaged,
processed foods with ones that incorporate locally grown
vegetables and other simple ingredients. "We've got a terrible,
terrible health crisis going on in the world today," said Miguel
Villarreal, food and nutrition director for the Novato Unified
School District. The Novato district and San Rafael City Schools
are sending food staffers this summer to a culinary training
program run by the Berkeley-based nonprofit group, Center for
Ecoliteracy. The center emphasizes refashioning foods children
know, such as pizza or spaghetti, into healthful, flavorful
dishes. Its goal is to reverse a trend whereby many school
districts have relied more on packaged or frozen foods. "What we
are engaging in is reviving skills