Lori Beatham, a cook at Portland Public Schools' Central Kitchen, slices 150 pounds of tri-colored bell peppers.

Lori Beatham retrieves an apron from her locker and glances at a portrait of her son – a seventh-grader at Lincoln Middle School – before returning to work.

Lori Beatham emerges from a walk-in cooler with a box of margarine.

Lori Beatham tosses a pound of margarine – one of 45 such blocks – into a cooking vat while making mashed potatoes for 2,000 students.

Lori Beatham drains boiling water from cooking vats while preparing mashed potatoes. The recipe called for 750 pounds of potatoes, 10 gallons of milk and 45 pounds of margarine.

Lori Beatham scoops mashed potatoes into pans.

Cook Lori Beatham squeegees water from the floor of Portland Public Schools' Central Kitchen after boiling enough potatoes for 2,000 students.