Southern Schools Embrace Cafeteria Sushi

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Dec 10th 2009 @ 3:00PM

The term "California roll" may prove to be something of a misnomer as students in southern states rapidly embrace school-cafeteria sushi.

This fall, Schwan's Food Service, the frozen food powerhouse and one of the nation's leading distributors of school pizza, rolled out a new line of fully cooked, frozen sushi. According to company spokesman Chad Stelter, schools in Florida and Tennessee are among the most enthusiastic early adopters.

While pizza has long been the backbone of Schwan's school menus, the company is gradually expanding its product line.

"We sell breadsticks and egg rolls," Stetler says. "But the topic that kept coming up in focus groups was sushi. So we took a look at it."

Schwan's tested eight different rolls across the country, staging a roadshow that included a stop at Wiregrass Ranch High School in Tampa. "We have no idea what the acceptability will be," school nutritionist Maggie Giunta told the St. Petersburg Times before the one-day event. As it turned out, the students were big fans –- although their excitement was apparently tempered by adolescent nonchalance.

"It was good," a Wiregrass junior told the Tampa Tribune after sampling a spicy shrimp roll. "I liked it."

Stetler said the biggest challenge Schwan's faced in selling students and administrators on the product was lingering concerns about food safety.

"There's a common misperception that sushi's all about raw fish," sighs Stetler. "We're educating people."

In addition to the spicy shrimp roll, Schwan's is also offering a California roll and a vegetarian roll, which is the California roll without the fake crab. All of the rolls last up to one year in the freezer, and 40 hours after thawing.

Filed Under: News
Tags: fish, school, schwans, southern states, sushi