The Institute of Child Nutrition is proud to present the podcast, iBites, where you will learn about all aspects of child nutrition programs. From research to resources, from oral histories to best practices, each iBites will feature a wealth of information to help promote the continuous improvement of child nutrition programs.
Shannon FitzGerald interviews Hannah Carroll, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who leads food services for a K–6 district of roughly 4,000 students in Santa Barbara County. Hannah describes a centralized production model — a full scratch-cooking central kitchen supplying nine sites through mobile serving lines — that has driven lunch participation to around 75% and breakfast participation above 50%, largely by adding Second Chance Breakfast. The conversation centers on three strengths of Hannah’s program: student-driven menu planning (including a 4th-grade student advisory council called SNACS), strategic use of USDA Foods as base ingredients to offset the cost of higher-quality local items, and a staff culture built on trust, hands-on presence, and culinary pride. She emphasizes that scratch cooking transitions succeed when directors build relationships first, start with familiar and manageable recipes, and work side by side with staff rather than directing from the office. Hannah also shares practical approaches to food waste reduction — daily lunch counts from classrooms feeding directly into production adjustments — and a creative solution of batch-freezing excess scratch-cooked food during the school year for use in summer programs. The episode closes with rapid-fire highlights, including her stress-relief strategy of gifting staff a “dishwashing day” redeemable by her, and her consistent message to new professionals: return to your why.
24 Jun 2026
iBites Podcast – S2E8 – Jeannie Riley
What does it really take to move a school meal program from freezer-to-oven to scratch-cooked? In this episode of iBites, host Shannon FitzGerald, PhD, RDN sits down with Jeannie Riley, School Nutrition Director for RSU 14 in Windham and Raymond, Maine, for an honest, inspiring conversation about scratch cooking from the ground up.
Jeannie shares how a community visioning grant sparked the idea of hiring a permanent district chef — a role that’s been transforming her program for 12 years — and how she built staff buy-in, sought culinary training, and navigated the very real challenges of making real food work at volume for 3,300 students across six schools.
Her advice for anyone wanting to start? Baby steps. One recipe, one success at a time. Her definition of scratch cooking for students? “Delicious, real school food fuels students for learning.”
21 May 2026
iBites Podcast – S2E7 – Maria Patiño
In this episode of iBites, host Shannon FitzGerald sits down with Maria Patiño, a school nutrition manager with 17 years of experience at Manor ISD — a fast-growing district just outside Austin, Texas. Maria shares how she went from walking into the district office unannounced with a 9-month-old in tow to becoming the district’s go-to manager for catering and summer feeding operations.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
1,195,341
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 65 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
63
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
81
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