LEWISTON — A new item is going on the Lewiston High School cafeteria menu, thanks to students.

It is pesto, made with spinach, mustard greens, olive oil, lemon juice, parmesan cheese and garlic.

The recipe came from high school students who are members of the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center’s Youth Campaign Crew.

The Youth Campaign Crew made the pesto in October with vegetables from the gardens. After grinding the spinach and other ingredients in a food processor, they set up a food-testing table in the school cafeteria to see if students liked it.

And they did. The cafeteria staff also liked it.

“The pesto surprised me with how good it was,” said Fern Langlois, the high school’s food manager,

Earlier this month, the cafeteria staff used the pesto recipe and served it as a pizza topping with chicken.

It was a hit. The pizza sold out.

Now, the pesto will be made and used monthly by cafeteria chefs, Langlois said. Next he plans to use the pesto in a chicken dish as a main entree.

That has left the nine student members of the St. Mary’s Youth Campaign Crew, and program coordinator Sarah Ullman, smiling.

“At first they didn’t recognize how cool it was,” Ullman said of her student foodies.

“These adults want to take what you did because they thought it was good!” she said.

This is not the first time the youth crew has had success.

They have also came up with a banana bread recipe that will be served for breakfast. And there is a recipe for black bean salad.

That involvement gives students some ownership over the menu, Ullman said. It is important for kids to know that adults are listening to them, she added.  

Nasra Ahmed, 15, one of the Youth Crew Campaign members, said she was nervous the day fellow students were eating the pizza with their pesto wondering what if they didn’t like it.

When her friends told her it was good, “I was happy,” she said.

Maryan Shidad, 17, also a Youth Crew Campaign member, said she thought the pesto was more of a dip.

“I never imagined it on pizza. But it was actually good on pizza,” she said. “I’m glad they used it.”

The food service manager said he loves the idea of students hosting monthly food tastings in the cafeteria to see how students like new ideas.

“We love trying something new,” Langlois said. “We have so much diversity in this school. They love trying something new.”

But before it goes on the menu, it must score positively with students, he said.

Langlois, a former Sysco sales representative, is in his first year at the high school. It has been busy, he said, with four lunch periods that each handle some 300 students. After working for years in sales, “I decided to do something different. I love it. I love the kids.”

Shidad said her on the St. Mary’s Youth Campaign Crew has given her more networking and nutrition skills. She used to think of healthy food as “tasteless.”

She now thinks differently.

“There’s more to it,” she said. “This has encouraged me to make healthier choices.”

Youth Campaign Crew members Amino Dagane, left, and Aysha Shueyb, both 16, make whole wheat pizza dough at the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center in Lewiston. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Maryan Shidad, 17, a Lewiston High School student and member of the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center’s Youth Campaign Crew, displays a tray of pizza topped with pesto earlier this month. The pesto recipe came from Youth Campaign Crew students like Shidad. (Submitted photo) 

Youth Campaign Crew co-facilitator Sarah Ullman helps Abas Shidad, 13, make his pizza at the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center. Shidad is not a member of the Youth Campaign Crew, but came to make pizzas with his sister, Arbay Shidad, who is a member. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Youth Campaign Crew members add peppers to their pizza. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Youth Campaign Crew member Myolene Gelinas, 17, puts her pizza crust onto a pan at the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center in Lewiston. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)