Food Services Expands Menu Focusing on Nutrition, Diversity and Inclusivity

By Lindsey Kundel, Director of Communications & Marketing

TAS Food Services has continued to expand its menus across campus with new releases slated for both first and second semesters. These include eight new Chinese dishes, nine new international dishes, new salad bar offerings, and seven new cold snack bar items, six new soups, and 11 new hot snack bar items. 

This is, to date, the largest expansion of the TAS food services menu, spearheaded by Head Chef Calvin Tu with support from Director of Food Services Shawn O'Neal and Director of Facilities Mike Dodge.

According to Mike Dodge, his office often hears from parents that the menu never changes, but he says the truth is far different. "New dishes are being developed and rolled out all the time," said Dodge. "In the past three years, we have concentrated on expanding our vegan and gluten-free offerings in addition to a number of healthier dishes that came as suggestions from our American nutritional consultants."

This expansion is doubly impressive considering the number of new health and safety precautions that the Food Service department has had to operate under during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dodge says that his team has had to "shift and adapt" in order to create these new dishes, but he's proud that they have been able to do so in order to better meet community nutritional needs.

A full list of new menu items can be found at the bottom of this article, but Dodge, O'Neal and Tu each have their own favorites on the new menu. Dodge loves the new SunButter pesto pasta, while O'Neal says his favorite is the cold Greek pasta salad because it is "tasty and refreshing." Chef Tu says that his favorite is one that hasn't yet been released - scheduled for the second semester - the poke bowls, which he describes as healthy, colorful, and, of course, delicious.

Taipei American School began to work with the nutrition consulting firm School Food and Wellness Group (SFWG) in 2018 as part of a larger effort to ensure the health and wellness of our students. Working together, SFWG and TAS have established clear nutritional standards to guide our food service decisions. The firm has made some recommendations regarding our offerings, suggested alternative recipe adjustments, discussed local food sourcing options where possible, and suggested other more general improvements to our food service programs.

"We have committed to highlighting local flavors, fresh ingredients, and expanding our menu to meet the dietary needs and restrictions of our community," said Dodge. And his team agrees. O'Neal says that the culinary team is "constantly innovating," because they love what they do. Chef Tu adds that he wants parents to know that the team is ultimately trying to balance the health of our children while exposing them to new foods and flavors to expand their palate.

So far the food services menu expansion has received mostly positive feedback, especially around the vegan and gluten-free recipes. The team is also researching the addition of adding a gluten-free pizza crust to have available for special orders.

Dodge and O'Neil admit jokingly that the vegan macaroni and cheese with meat alternative was, understandably, not a crowd favorite, but despite that setback, most of the other new menu items have been hits. 

Chef Tu says that he is motivated by this feedback because "students and staff are excited to see new items on the menu, with some items quickly selling out. We welcome all feedback, no matter if it is good or bad, so that we can serve our community best."

O'Neal says that all new food items will be rotated throughout the menu on a regular basis to "keep things interesting" for our community members.

TAS community members can find a weekly menu online through a website called NutriSlice. This link is available in the TAS Portals and through the TAS App. NutriSlice contains additional information on ingredients, macronutrients, and allergens in addition to basic descriptions and calorie count.

New Menu Items 2021-2022 School Year

Main Serving Line

• Chinese dishes: spicy calamari, white noodles w/ buddha sauce, chicken stir-fried yellow noodles, golden pumpkin stir-fried rice noodles, pork & sweet corn dumplings, seafood stir-fried yellow noodles, sous vide chicken breast with scallion oil, Chinese shrimp curry

• International dishes: spaghetti & pork meatballs, reworked chana masala & flatbread, turmeric chicken and bacon risotto, creamy chicken penne pasta, pork meatball submarine sandwich, seafood penne alfredo, Thai curry pork, bacon & cheese pockets, mac’n’cheese w vegan meat substitute

Pizza bar: gluten-free pizza crust (special order only)

Salad bar: lotus root slices in yuzu sauce, bamboo shoots, rainbow salad

Snack Bar:

• Cold items: poke bowls, Greek pasta salad, tuna pasta salad, chicken pasta salad, sous vide chicken submarine sandwiches, vegan meringue cookies, vegan flatbread

• Hot items: pork meatballs rice noodle soup, rou geng noodles soup, hot & sour Taiwanese dumpling soup, rou geng soup, potato celery and bacon soup, curry pumpkin soup

• Box Sets: teriyaki chicken, gyu-don beef, BBQ pork, yakisoba, Japanese shrimp curry, baby black wood ear mushrooms with vinegar, burdock, spicy king oyster mushrooms, pickled radish, buffalo chicken wings, BBQ chicken wings