Vetri Foundation chefs work with school cafeteria staffs to prepare tasty, healthy recipes, Mr. Vetri says. Salad is always on the menu. So is dessert. Students play a big role in making the program run successfully. Each week a student in every class is assigned as a captain for his or her table. The captain comes to the cafeteria a few minutes before lunch to set the table. After the other children arrive, the captain brings out the food on platters. All the students assist in cleaning up after the meal by scraping the plates, stacking the dirty dishes, and wiping the table. By sharing food set out at a round table—which is family-style eating—children learn how to appreciate nutritious food and communicate better with other people, Mr. Vetri says. For instance, they need to politely ask others at the table to pass the lasagna or the baked cod. Learning how to communicate politely “will help you later in life,” he says. “You won’t be awkward when socially interacting with other people.” In addition, he says, dining family-style gives children an opportunity to gain knowledge from each other. And teachers often report that the students return to class calmer and more productive, Mr. Vetri says. He says he faced a lot of challenges starting Eatiquette in 2010. Some adults didn’t like the idea. Marc Vetri It’s not just what you eat, but how Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri is known for creating some of Philadelphia’s fine restaurants. Now, he is also becoming known for his role in a program that has served more than 265,000 healthy family-style meals to students. The Eatiquette™ program—run by the Vetri Foundation—seeks to improve the lunchtime experience in schools. The traditional lunch period can be a busy, stressful time. Cafeteria lines can be long. And the food may not look appetizing. Eatiquette shakes up the whole lunchtime routine. Gone are the rectangular tables. In their place are round tables. Gone are the lines. Instead, students serve themselves from platters set on the table. Before they dig in, a chef tells the students what ingredients are in the food. “If you don’t know what you are eating, you don’t know what is going in your body,” Mr. Vetri says. It’s important for children to understand the relationship between “healthy eating and healthy living” so they can do the right thing for themselves and help others too, according to Mr. Vetri’s foundation. 26