Dietetic Internship Food Service Experience
I completed my food service rotations during the months of October through December of 2020. Due to COVID-19, two of the six weeks of my hospital food service rotation through St. Cloud Hospital were done in-person; the other four weeks were remote. I also completed my two-week school food service rotation remotely and spoke with many primary and secondary school and college food service dietitians around the state.
St. Cloud Hospital Food Service Rotation
During my hospital food service rotation, I shadowed many kitchen staff members, gaining a better understanding of the flow of a kitchen and the amount of thought and preparation required to provide safe nutritional food to customers. With a partner, I also planned a meal to be served to 60 people. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we were unable to actually prepare and serve our meal. However, when completing this assignment, we treated it as if we were to be serving this meal in-person, meaning we communicated with numerous kitchen staff, calculated all the costs associated with preparing and serving the meal, made a procurement and production schedule, and illustrated assembly and serving diagrams.
School Food Service Experience
The school food service rotation was remote due to COVID-19. Although I did not have the opportunity to shadow a dietitian in-person during this rotation, I felt the remote experience was beneficial as the discussions and assignments were very intentional and I was able to learn from a variety of school food service dietitians. We met with extension educators, a SNAP-Ed educator, a school district nutrition service supervisor, a community wellness specialist, and school food service directors. During this rotation, I grew in my ability to educate and market to various age groups. Below are some examples of my work completed during the school food service rotation.
Smarter Lunchrooms Serving Layout.pdfParent Newsletter.pdfFood Allergen In-Service.pdf