L.A. school lunches go healthy with mango smoothies, ramen, berries. Will students bite?

Sebastine Chun, 16, left, a junior at Chatsworth Charter High, and Katherine Shin, 17, a senior at North Hollywood High, write down their reviews as they sample new breakfast and lunch menu items at Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts in Los Angeles. Los Angeles school chefs — largely responsible for providing the main source of daily nutrition for tens of thousands of children — served up new back-to-school options Friday, the latest attempt to provide healthful yet appealing food to youthful taste buds. In the overcrowded L.A. Unified of the 1990s, efficiency was the priority in meal preparation, with central kitchens taking over for food prepared at school cafeterias — and prepackaged food stations installed to keep long lines moving. There’s also been labor intrigue — the school board approved health benefits for part-time cafeteria workers even though it threw the food program into a deficit at the time. And befitting the school district that includes Hollywood, there’s even been drama — the district refused to permit celebrity chief Jamie Oliver to film a show on its campuses — and true crime, when a top district food official and chef was convicted of forgery on a district vendor application.