France trip influences school lunch leader

Jay Stagg is the man behind the scenes of the Whitefish School District’s lunch, breakfast and snack menu.

Stagg is in his fourth year as school food service director for the school district.

For the last two years, Stagg has been securing grant money to establish a garden and greenhouse in the district that would serve as an outdoor classroom.

“It’s finally coming to fruition. Children will grow plots they can learn from,” Stagg said. “There’s a million ideas on how to use it,” Stagg said noting science classes could build a solar water pump, art classes could paint the garden or math classes could measure plants as they grow.

Stagg has been involved in the food industry for a long time. When he was 14, Stagg started working in a restaurant as a dishwasher and has since worked in a variety of positions from cook to waiter.

His favorite meal to prepare is roast chicken and his favorite chef is Marco Pierre White.

“It’s always paid the bills,” Stagg said, smiling. “It paid for college at Miami University in Ohio. I really enjoyed it.”

While in college, Stagg took a different avenue of study, inspired by a Rotary International Youth Exchange study abroad trip to France when he was 18, and majored in creating writing - poetry and French literature.

“It was amazing. I went to high school in Montbard right outside of Dijon,” Stagg said.

Stagg delighted in the style of French cooking while living in the small hillside town and traveling around the country.

“It might have changed in 20 years, but it was very down-home, fresh, local ingredients,” Stagg said likening the cooking experience to his grandparents era where meals derived from what was seasonal.

The method of shopping was not from grocery lists, but what was fresh and available.

“I love the idea of going to market, seeing what’s fresh, getting it and going home to cook it,” Stagg said.

A return to sourcing local foods is a movement growing exponentially Stagg said. A few weeks ago, he attended a class in Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The focus was on how food is graded, inspected and imported. Stagg marveled at how much food is handled before it reaches supermarket aisles:

“Produce coming from Mexico could be touched by 30 different people — pickers, inspectors, washers, distributors, packagers, drivers to grocers,” Stagg said.

One summer during college Stagg visited Montana and decided to move to the state in 1992 where he met his wife Suzi.

“I had visited Glacier Park one summer in college and thought it was beautiful,” Stagg said. “I also wanted to learn how to ski.”

The Stagg family includes 4-year-old Phoebe and 8-year-old Fin. The Stagg's share the duties of cooking family meals.

“We all cook. I love teaching the kids how to cook,” Jay Stagg said.

His move from the restaurant industry to industrialized food service in the school district is a profession that caters to a different kind of clientele and pleasing the palates of young critics — kindergartners through high schoolers.

“Wraps are really popular. Instead of a turkey sandwich you do a turkey wrap on a whole grain tortilla with some cheese, a lettuce,” Stagg said. He added that wraps are kept simple for young students. “We’re not doing avocados or spicy mustards, or it will end up right in the trash.”

Since the school population is not too large, Stagg is able to get out of the office and into the kitchen prepping food, serving students and even washing dishes.

“I love this aspect of food service,” Stagg said.

After the last school bell rings, Stagg still ponders the role food plays in people’s lives.

“I just finished reading a book that was really interesting. It took the top 50 chefs and they were given two questions — what’s the best meal you ever had and if you were going to die tomorrow, what’s your last meal going to be,” Stagg said.

And the best meal Stagg has had in a restaurant?

“I’m going to leave that one open,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve had my best meal yet. I have some places I want to go someday — a few inn's in Europe.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.