08-15-2008, 09:38 AM
Quick background. Southlake Carroll is a national powerhouse in football and usually ranked in the top 5 of the mythical high school national rankings. The school district has some bucks because when the Dallas Cowboys cannot practice outside due to weather, they use the high school's indoor facilities.
From the Dallas News:
The Southlake Carroll Dragons, the state's premier high school football team, are nationally renowned for college-level offenses, suffocating defenses and talented athletes.
And starting this year, Dragon fans can watch their highly ranked team from the stands while clenching chopsticks and munching on California rolls and other sushi delicacies.
Yes, sushi.
Talk about taking a sledgehammer to Texas' hard-nosed, tough-hitting, tailgating, doesn't-get-no-better-than-Friday-night-lights image.
When asked if she'd eat sushi at a football game, Southlake mom Danielle Marez paused.
She then paused some more.
"It doesn't seem like typical football fare," she said as her young son and daughter stood nearby and smiled at the thought.
H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger agrees.
He wrote Friday Night Lights, a best-selling book and now NBC TV show about the 1988 Odessa Permian Panthers.
"It sounds like Texas high school football has gone soft," he said from his home in Philadelphia. "The idea of serving sushi at a Texas high school football game just flies in the face of everything I know about Texas high school football.
"What are they going to serve next, penne pasta?" Mr. Bissinger said. "Let's get back to good ol' fashioned Texas barbecue."
But serving sushi makes sense in Southlake, school district nutrition director Mary Brunig said.
"We have a very health-conscious community," she said. "This is a healthy choice for those people who don't want all those carbohydrates."
The school sold out of premium $3-a-bottle Fiji water at Dragon Stadium last year. And Southlake students can plop tofu on their salads from the school's salad bar and swish them down with chocolate soy milk.
Mrs. Brunig said she expects the sushi to sell well. Two Asian school employees will be serving it up in a grass-skirted tiki hut starting at the home opener Sept. 5.
The high school and senior high school cafeterias will start selling sushi the following Monday.
For $5 at the stadium and $4 at the schools, students can buy three types of rolls: Pacific shrimp rolls (shrimp, avocado, rice and nori), Seattle rolls (smoked salmon, cream cheese, asparagus, rice and nori) and California rolls (real crab, avocado, asparagus, rice and nori). Nori is the seaweed wrapped around the roll.
"I might try it once," said sophomore Price Arnold, 16. But he admits he doesn't enjoy sushi that much anyway.
He prefers watching Dragon football games while washing down a barbecue beef sandwich with a soft drink.
Ms. Brunig said serving sushi is just the beginning. She said the schools plan to offer students more international foods, like tamales.
And she's looking at additional sushi variations, too, complete with the spicy green wasabi that fits so nicely with the Dragons' green color scheme.
Perhaps salmon roe, raw scallops or puffer fish ââ¬â the potentially poisonous but prized and delectable Japanese fish?
Or even edamame (steamed soy beans) lightly sprinkled with salt and served with soy sauce?
Not anytime soon, Ms. Brunig said.
"No, we aren't going to get into sea urchins, either," she said. "But we may do sushi desserts."
From the Dallas News:
The Southlake Carroll Dragons, the state's premier high school football team, are nationally renowned for college-level offenses, suffocating defenses and talented athletes.
And starting this year, Dragon fans can watch their highly ranked team from the stands while clenching chopsticks and munching on California rolls and other sushi delicacies.
Yes, sushi.
Talk about taking a sledgehammer to Texas' hard-nosed, tough-hitting, tailgating, doesn't-get-no-better-than-Friday-night-lights image.
When asked if she'd eat sushi at a football game, Southlake mom Danielle Marez paused.
She then paused some more.
"It doesn't seem like typical football fare," she said as her young son and daughter stood nearby and smiled at the thought.
H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger agrees.
He wrote Friday Night Lights, a best-selling book and now NBC TV show about the 1988 Odessa Permian Panthers.
"It sounds like Texas high school football has gone soft," he said from his home in Philadelphia. "The idea of serving sushi at a Texas high school football game just flies in the face of everything I know about Texas high school football.
"What are they going to serve next, penne pasta?" Mr. Bissinger said. "Let's get back to good ol' fashioned Texas barbecue."
But serving sushi makes sense in Southlake, school district nutrition director Mary Brunig said.
"We have a very health-conscious community," she said. "This is a healthy choice for those people who don't want all those carbohydrates."
The school sold out of premium $3-a-bottle Fiji water at Dragon Stadium last year. And Southlake students can plop tofu on their salads from the school's salad bar and swish them down with chocolate soy milk.
Mrs. Brunig said she expects the sushi to sell well. Two Asian school employees will be serving it up in a grass-skirted tiki hut starting at the home opener Sept. 5.
The high school and senior high school cafeterias will start selling sushi the following Monday.
For $5 at the stadium and $4 at the schools, students can buy three types of rolls: Pacific shrimp rolls (shrimp, avocado, rice and nori), Seattle rolls (smoked salmon, cream cheese, asparagus, rice and nori) and California rolls (real crab, avocado, asparagus, rice and nori). Nori is the seaweed wrapped around the roll.
"I might try it once," said sophomore Price Arnold, 16. But he admits he doesn't enjoy sushi that much anyway.
He prefers watching Dragon football games while washing down a barbecue beef sandwich with a soft drink.
Ms. Brunig said serving sushi is just the beginning. She said the schools plan to offer students more international foods, like tamales.
And she's looking at additional sushi variations, too, complete with the spicy green wasabi that fits so nicely with the Dragons' green color scheme.
Perhaps salmon roe, raw scallops or puffer fish ââ¬â the potentially poisonous but prized and delectable Japanese fish?
Or even edamame (steamed soy beans) lightly sprinkled with salt and served with soy sauce?
Not anytime soon, Ms. Brunig said.
"No, we aren't going to get into sea urchins, either," she said. "But we may do sushi desserts."
Will it blend? That is the question.