Film stars for the day, these Oxford Elementary School students won the honor of being filmed for a segment of Unwrapped on the Food Network that will feature Brakebush Zoo Crew chicken nuggets. The students won by being tops in good behavior, good attendance, and by reading the most minutes. (Photo by Kathleen McGwin)
Brakebush and Oxford Elementary students shine for Food Network
By Kathleen McGwin
Into the ovens went the rhinos, camels, elephants, and lions, but there wasn’t a giraffe in sight..
“The necks of the giraffes broke when they were shaped,” said Brakebush Marketing Manager Steve Ross. “So they weren’t in the final animal shapes that were chosen.”
Ross was explaining the Kids Klassics Zoo Crew animal-shaped chicken nuggets produced by Brakebush Brothers in Westfield and soon to be the stars in an Unwrapped segment on the Food Network. The Food Network website says, Unwrapped “uncovers behind-the-scenes details on classic American food, from peanut butter and chocolate syrup to French fries and bubblegum.”
The network contacted Brakebush to be part of a show on animal-shaped food and set up the filming with an independent film crew from Chicago. Brakebush contacted Oxford Elementary School when the crew wanted to tape kids eating the fun shaped tender white chicken. Filming the process of making the nuggets was done at Brakebush in the morning last Wednesday and the crew came to Oxford Elementary in the afternoon. It’s not known right now when the show will air, but Oxford Elementary School has been assured they’ll be informed when the date is set.
Fifteen lucky students, grades 4K to sixth grade, were chosen to taste test the animal chicken nuggets for the filming. They had to work for it, though, with the honors going to students who had good attendance, good behavior, and those who read the most minutes during the competition leading up to the filming.
The students weren’t surprised by the good taste of the animal shaped Brakebush chicken. They’d just eaten heart-shaped Brakebush chicken nuggets on Valentine’s Day.
“Over a million kids eat heart-shaped chicken on Valentine’s Day,” said Scott Sanders, Brakebush Director of Sales and Marketing.
Brakebush introduces a new shape each year in its Kids Klassics food line. The company’s website asks, “Kids come in all shapes and sizes, why not chicken?” The Zoo Crew animals have been on the market for about a year and a half and Sanders said they’re doing well. The company provides placemats as well as activity sheets with stickers for schools to use with the product. A portion of the Zoo Crew proceeds benefits the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Brakebush also sells pretzel shaped chicken nuggets, stars, and giggles, which are round smiley faces. On St. Patrick’s Day, Oxford students will be having shamrock-shaped nuggets. The animal shapes, Ross said, sell well to zoos, restaurants that have featured children’s menus, day cares, and amusement parks. The shapes are only sold wholesale, so you won’t see them at your grocery store.
Joyce Gaulke, Oxford Elementary Food Services Director, said the kids like the chicken nuggets and shapes make them fun. Giggles will be served on April Fool’s Day, she said.
Cameras caught the action of kids biting the heads off of camels and the horn off of a rhino. Between bites, the students searched for words in a puzzle on the Zoo Crew placemat and guessed at crossword puzzle questions like, “What is a family of lions living together in a group called?” “What part of an elephant has 40,000 muscles and is as useful as your hands?” A little bit of learning about the chicken shaped animals they were enjoying for an afternoon snack fit nicely into their starring roles for the Food Network.
