Article: School Food Gets Smarter And Snazzier; Cafeterias Becoming Creative in Cutting Fat

Taking cues from her fast-food competitors, Penny McConnell is introducing a southwestern chicken salad to her "Energy Zone" menus this year.

"We have to be on the competitive edge," McConnell said. "We've been doing a lot of business with salad."

When customers stop into an EZ, they are greeted by the official EZ colors -- fuchsia, teal and black -- and images of the EZ bear mascot. Hot sandwiches are encased in EZ wrappers, chicken nuggets sit in EZ boats and customers drink from bottles of EZ water.

So where can you find this tantalizing line of EZ eats? Try a public school, in this case one in Fairfax County that is part of a trend toward lower fat offerings at school cafeterias.

The ...

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