Faculty of the Month: Our school's dietitian! Ms. Lim Chae-eun

Everyone in Cheongshim will probably agree that one of our most significant sources of pride is our school meal. The excitement of getting to eat a nice meal gets us through a busy and stressful day, and it is not a lie to say that everyone’s greatest interest is our meals. Especially in our school, where we get 3 meals and a nighttime snack at school every day, the role of school dietitians is larger than in other schools. As good as it is, our school dietitians are communicative with students through the feedback note and Instagram, actually taking in students’ feedback or menu ideas! So, for this month’s ‘Faculty of the Month’, we decided to finally interview one of our most requested staff, Ms Lim Chae-eun, who is one of the three dietitians in our school. Thank you, Ms Lim, for agreeing to this interview! 

Q. Can you briefly introduce yourself? 

Ms Lim:

Hello, my name is Chae-eun Lim, and I work as a school dietitian here at CSIA. We have 3 dietitians, so our designated roles are divided, and I am in charge of planning menus, placing food orders on a biweekly basis, inspecting ingredients, providing nutrition education for students, managing the overall kitchen safety and Instagram activities, also handling part of the administrative tasks related to school meals. 

Q. What inspired you to become a dietitian? 

Ms Lim:

I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to do until high school, and while I was contemplating it, I was influenced by my mother, who was a school cook. Whenever there were delicious menus, she would tell me how much the students enjoyed them and recreate those dishes at home. Through that, I began to think, “What if I could make students happy with good meals?” That’s how I got interested in this job.

Q. Where do you get ideas for your menus? 

Ms Lim: 

I get ideas from lots of different places. One of the main ones is Q&A on Instagram and the student feedback notes, which I look at pretty often. I find really creative ideas there! Other than that, hot and trendy menus I find on social media can give me a good Idea. Also, there’s actually an online community for school dietitians called ‘영양사도우미’ where I can check what ingredients other schools use ot make the same dish or how they use them.

Q. What is your priority when planning meals, and how do you balance taste and nutrition? 

Ms Lim:

Balancing taste and nutrition is honestly the hardest part. Planning lunch is the hardest because there are many things to consider, like calories, carbs, protein, fat, calcium, and more. What I do is, I try to spread things out across different meals since our school offers four meals a day, and I have more freedom when it comes to other meals. Or I will include them in the ‘special meal’ (특식) 

Q. What is the nicest thing to hear from a student as a school dietitian? 

Mr Lim: 

When they say the food was really good. Some students even give me a thumbs-up when they see me the next day, and when I see lots of compliments in the feedback notes, I consider serving the same menu the next month. I like it when students react to the little POP signs on the dishes because I put a lot of effort into them, so it’s nice to know them someone notices! 

Q. Is there anything you wish students would be more careful about in the cafeteria? 

Yes, there are some things I want to say when it comes to safety. One is not to leave your chopsticks on the floor when you drop them. The kitchen staff and other students step on it and fall. Especially because kitchen staff often carry hot food and they can spill on a student and cause a serious burn, it’s extremely dangerous. This was something I’ve wanted to point out because I don’t think the students really know this. And also to step aside when we refill food because the food is heavy and hot, so students might get burned. 

Q. How much do you take student menu requests into account? 

I try to include as many as I can — maybe about 50%? Since our school serves a large number of students, whether the cooking method is manageable is important. Some students DM me to request menus, but if the process is way too complicated, we can’t serve them. Still, unless it’s totally impossible, like bingsu or tanghulu, we try to make it work as much as possible. There’s a full shelf full of catalogs from food suppliers, so if there’s a request menu, I look things up on catalogs, online, companies, and see how other teachers serve it. If it’s a menu I didn’t know, then sometimes I will actually buy and try it myself. I hope students know that we are genuinely trying our best to serve a good meal and grant your requests!