school lunches... excellent article

[umami_mommy]

http://www.grist.org/comments/food/2...als/index.html

not sure where to post this...

[aniT]

You could also try news and current events..

That is horrible! I had not idea that many schools do not have kitchens. In every district my kids have lived in at least one school had a kitchen that cooked the food and trucked it to the schools that did not. Of course that food was always garbage and uneatable as well.

These kids need to be eating fresh fruits and whole grains for breakfast.. not Golden Graham crap. :

[USAmma]

Rent Supersize Me. It's very eye opening! They have a segment on school lunches and it's really scary.

I send my dd's lunch with her every day, but at her small charter school they contract with a caterer who brings fresh healthy lunches. The caterer is a member of the church that the school rents space from. The price is a little bit more because of better food, but it's okay with the parents.

[Teensy]

No shock to me.

Charleston County (SC) School District Breakfast Menus this month include:

Monday, September 11: Kellogg's pop Tart, Applesauce Cup, Milk
Tuesday, September 12: Sausage Biscuit, Juice, Milk
Wednesday, September 13: Kellogg's Cinnamania, Fruit Cocktail, Milk
Monday, September 18: ProBall Donut, Juice, Milk

Kellogg's Cereal and Fresh fruit are also offered daily for breakfast, according to the sheet

What a great way for disadvantaged kids to start the day! Arrrgggghhhhh!

[aniT]

Here is my daughters school's first week's menu. If nothing else at least they are offered healthier choices along with the crap.

Tuesday, Sept. 5
Breakfast
Sunrise Sandwich
(ham/egg/cheese on English Muffin)
Fruit, Milk
or
Cereal, Juice, Milk
———————————-
Lunch
Hamburger Deluxe
(lettuce, tomato)
Macho Nachos
Deli Sandwich (assorted)
Salad Bowl (chicken, taco, cheese)

Wed., Sept. 6
Breakfast
French Toast Sticks
Fruit, Milk
or
Cereal, Juice, Milk
———————————-
Lunch
Meat Ravioli
(with garlic breadstick)
Chicken Burger
Deli Sandwich (assorted)
Salad Bowl (chicken, taco, cheese)

Thurs., Sept. 7
Breakfast
Yogurt Cup and Muffin
Fruit, Milk
or
Cereal, Juice, Milk
———————————-
Lunch
Chicken Oriental Rice Bowl
(teriyaki)
Hot Ham and Cheese Melt
Deli Sandwich (assorted)
Salad Bowl (chicken, taco, cheese)

Friday, Sept. 8
Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs and Diced
Ham, Fruit, Milk
or
Cereal, Juice, Milk
———————————-
Lunch
Pepperoni Pizza
(or cheese)
All American Hotdog
Deli Sandwich (assorted)
Salad Bowl (chicken, taco, cheese)

[laurabfig]

Originally Posted by USAmma

Rent Supersize Me. It's very eye opening! They have a segment on school lunches and it's really scary.

Yep...that movie made me a vegetarian.

I am outraged at what I see the kids eating at the public preschool for children with disabilities where I work. Disgusting...ravioli with gross sauce, fruit cocktail with sugary syrup, not a vegetable in sight....it is so sad to me that children who need the nutrition the most are fed this junk.

[umami_mommy]

i think the thing that really makes me mad is that we *are* by far the richest country in the world and we feed our kids garbage. course it starts with formula. it's not hard to make the transisition to processed baby foods and then processed junk food. it's a slippery slide that is easy to fall down for many.

i just returned from a camp in vermont that cooked for over 150 people for 8 days, 3 meals a day and snacks in between. almost everything they cook is from food grown right on the farm there. (including the chickens) the food was amazing, varied, tasty and fed the soul not just the body. (it was mostly vegetarian, but we did have a meat meal 4 evenings while there) they charged us $215 per person for all 8 days. that's it! and most of that money went for preparing food. and that's 5 extra dollars per person to make sure whatever they bought off site was organic.

that's it! 5 extra dollars!! amazing. it's not so hard or expensive, but you have to care. and that's what makes me so sad, that most people just don't care. we could easily prepare this kind of food for our kids. each school could have a garden and each school could prepare food from it and supplement from locally grown whole foods. but caring would be essential.

[lisalou]

This week's New Yorker was the education issue and there was a great article on a chef who was attempting ot get better meals into Berkley Public schools. Well it was depressing too. We spend about maybe $3/day per student for breakfast and lunch that's what most districts can budget. The chef was working with the fact that the schools in this district don't have kitchens, everything has to come from a central kitchen and just the struggle to get good food for the kids. Everything through the USDA is calculated by calories and fat content. So when school systems started to cut down on fat, the calorie count went down so to make it go up they started adding sugar to things. The article went into the history of the school lunch program.

They also talked about school meals in Italy and France and it was stuff most American parents would say, "My child would NEVER eat that!" to but it was good stuff fish and fresh veggies and cheese plates. 3 course meals! But they spend between $6-8/pupil per day. The kids eat it up. Imagine not dumbing down food for kids. The chef was attempting to get a bigger budget and was frustrated by the fact we spend $1billion/week in Iraq but yet we can't even spend that amount on school lunches and breakfasts which were the only solid meals some of the kids in her district got.

I wish I could link to the article for you. It was really good.

[umami_mommy]

this is the website of the project, it's alice waters edible school yard project.

http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/ppl_aw.html

it's been going on for a while now. alice waters is one of my heras.

[Mommabelle]

I know they've been serving this junk for years and I still can't believe it. What is really hilarious is that whenever I say something other parents say "well what's wrong with it?" : I truly can't believe they ask this question. I'm always wondering if they are being defensive or if they really dont' know. Lately I just keep my mouth shut. If I try to explain..then they think I'm nuts.

[lisalou]

Originally Posted by honeybeedreams

this is the website of the project, it's alice waters edible school yard project.

http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/ppl_aw.html

it's been going on for a while now. alice waters is one of my heras.

The chef in the article complained a little about Alice. Mainly b/c Alice is so for very small purveyors that it makes it almost impossible to roll out for a school lunch program. Not to diss Alice, I love her too and so does the chef. But the chef needed to do extensive research to find a healthy pizza and Alice wasn't too pleased she had done with with a larger bakery. She also wasn't pleased about the chef coming up with a meatloaf recipes.

[umami_mommy]

Originally Posted by lisalou

She also wasn't pleased about the chef coming up with a meatloaf recipes.

[PumpkinSeeds]

I watched this show and it was a real eye opener for me too. Wow. He met with so much resistance from the cooking staff and even some of the parents. If you have access to this show (it was a series), you should watch it.

[aussiemum]

Wow, thanks for that link to the Edible School yard article. I thought that was fantastic, & it was helpful in addressing some of the issues that have come up at my kids school.... We are constantly reassessing how we run the tuckshop (school lunch is called tuckshop here)- I'd love to do more but I don't really want the time commitment on top of other volunteer work I do, yk? Tuckshop is paid work, altho not very well, but the idea that I could plan & cook a healthy lunch for all those kids is attractive, regardless of the money- it is tempting. I do love the opportunity to encourage veggie-munching & family dinner nights.