What do they feed our kids?

[Gidget]

ckhagen, I was looking for you on this thread! I taught preschool at Village Baptist & they did not provide lunches. Gateway does not have a licensed kitchen; they do have the option of purchasing lunches each day & you are correct, they are from different restaurants, mostly within walking distance of the school. I am curious, though, about your research...is it for anything in particular or just for your own sake? Please keep us posted on your findings. I do not have children, but can only imagine my concerns if I did--being very health conscience & vegetarian, with a vegan husband...I am sure it would be hard to find adequate choices in a school cafeteria. SWGB brought up the vegetarian/vegan options, I had no idea that it was required for the schools to provide alternative choices. But canned green beans & french fries hardly count as a balanced meal! Ok, I will get off my box now....this is an area that I am very passionate...sorry for the ramble!

I've read your posts before - I can only imagine how sensational your meals must be. And you are a chef where?

Vegetarian choices are usually so gummed up with cheese that it is pathetic or are as you say, french fries and perhaps a canned veggie or a "salad" of some iceburg lettuce with a few tomatoes. UGH. The object to me (was 100% vegan for a while but now I am roughly in the 90ish% with lots of raw and occasional fish) is to get in as many veggies and fruits and whole grains as possible. It can be done so that kids and adults love it! And without a lot of feaux meats too.

I remember, before we homeschooled, that I went to my son's cafeteria (in LA) to check out the lunch situation. APPALLING! Worse than McDonald's if that is possible. I told the principal that I wanted to send his lunch. He was NOT happy. He got funding from the gov according to how many students he had eating in the cafeteria. (the other great funding was the soft drink machine) He told me my son would have to eat in a room by himself so that the other children would not want to do the same or want his food. I also told him that my son didn't drink milk. He thought I was disappointed in his "picky" ways and said, "Well, we have chocolate milk!" :roll:

Oh and remember the schools in Super Size Me? Shows you how it can be done right.

Also, not trying to politicize this thread but check out the following link:

Obama’s Chef Doesn’t Like School Lunches ? The Internet Food Association

Great thread btw,
G

 

[jamie]

I've read your posts before - I can only imagine how sensational your meals must be. And you are a chef where?

Vegetarian choices are usually so gummed up with cheese that it is pathetic or are as you say, french fries and perhaps a canned veggie or a "salad" of some iceburg lettuce with a few tomatoes. UGH. The object to me (was 100% vegan for a while but now I am roughly in the 90% with lots of raw) is to get in as many veggies and fruits and whole grains as possible. It can be done so that kids and adults love it! And without a lot of feaux meats too.

Gidget, I am a personal chef; I cook for private dinners & parties, typically in the client's home. I love it! However, it is rare that I get to cook vegetarian food.

That is often the case with vegetarian options, they are cheese laden. I am just thankful that, for now, I don't have children & have this challenge to deal with. However, I still would love to see changes in school lunches & I am planning on going to Raw & Juicy on Labor Day to support the cause.

 

[ShallowsNole]

I know how you feel about the peas; my issue was with the milk
however, to your point about "more pressing things to do..."

what could be more pressing for the School Food Service management than serving healthy food? Isn't that their job?

I simply don't understand why the food is the way it is--it does not take much more time to prepare healthy food than unhealthy food, if one plans...the students don't need "fancy", but they do need healthy and a variety of fresh fruit and veggies, IMO.

What is the issue with time? Do the school food staff not have enough time to prepare? Don't they work full days? Perhaps I need to be educated on the situation, but if the look of the new kitchen facilities at the new high school are any indication, then our students should be eating like kings and queens...instead (I was told) they were served hot dogs on the first day of school--what's up with that?
I

Lunch starts at 10:30 - 11:00, IIRC. And even though the food staff arrives 6:30 - 7:00, that's not "all day."

OBVIOUSLY fresh is better. I'm just trying to figure out what the big deal is with canned veggies. I don't serve them very often now that we have Publix and we don't have to buy a week's or month's worth of food at a time, but they were a very economical choice for my family when they didn't have time to grow/cook and I was growing up (and fruit cocktail was an absolute treat). And since we ran the local grocery store, I know that all my peers ate the same way I did. If canned groceries are unhealthy, we certainly didn't know anything about it.

What IS gross is crisp green beans. Fuzz's grandma would have a stroke. ;-)

 

[scooterbug44]

Lunch starts at 10:30?

Maybe instead of more veggies we need to be focusing on common sense.

 

[lms47]

I can only speak from 24 years experience of teaching in a middle school in Northeast AL and our lunchroom was HEAVILY subsidized by the feds. Due to the fact that 90% of our students qualified for free and reduced breakfast and lunch, it was almost impossible for our lunchroom manager to acquire fresh foods from another source, with little or no money. She did offer a salad bar one time; but, the students would spit in it or throw the produce all around if not supervised continuously, so she discontinued the bar. LRManagers have a difficult task , at best.

 

[jamie]

I would imagine that it is a very difficult job. It is impossible to make everyone happy. So many children today are brought up on fast food & do not like healthy foods & are extremely picky. I don't envy the lunchroom manager!

 

[Susan Horn]

Just back from an incredibile foodie vacation to San Francisco. Everything there is local, organic, fresh and fantastic. This was the festival --

www.eatrealfest.com

While there, I saw a booth for Welcome - Revolution Foods They had already gone for the day so I didn't get to talk to them (turnout at this festival was more than double the prediced attendance, vendors were runnng out of food and shucking and jiving to feed the crowds; we helped Jim 'n ' Nick's who were serving free rangeorganic barbecue and local BBQ corn, fantastic, I cannot tell you how many ears of corn I personally shucked!), but from what I'm told and what I can see, they are getting fresh healthy foods into schools and making it work as far as $$. Don't know how but they're doing it. We oughtta be able to do it here too. Everybody come to the eat-in on Sep 7 and let's make a plan!

 

[GoodWitch58]

Just back from an incredibile foodie vacation to San Francisco. Everything there is local, organic, fresh and fantastic. This was the festival --

www.eatrealfest.org

While there, I saw a booth for Welcome - Revolution Foods They had already gone for the day so I didn't get to talk to them (turnout at this festival was more than double the prediced attendance, vendors were runnng out of food and shucking and jiving to feed the crowds; we helped Jim 'n ' Nick's who were serving free rangeorganic barbecue and local BBQ corn, fantastic, I cannot tell you how many ears of corn I personally shucked!), but from what I'm told and what I can see, they are getting fresh healthy foods into schools and making it work as far as $$. Don't know how but they're doing it. We oughtta be able to do it here too. Everybody come to the eat-in on Sep 7 and let's make a plan!

Susan, can you post again, or tell me where it is posted please. I want to be sure and be there.

 

[Susan Horn]

Susan, can you post again, or tell me where it is posted please. I want to be sure and be there.

Goodwitch,

The festival took place this past weekend in Oakland. www.eatrealfest.com. Maybe I typed the link wrong before, sorry.

They haven't set the date for next year's festival but I sure hope I can go. Better yet, we oughtta start a festival like that in this area! We have a small start coming up with the Sep 7 Eat-In at Raw & Juicy (details of that are posted elsewhere on Sowal)

The booth I mentioned was for a group called Food Revolution -- their website --
Welcome - Revolution Foods

I think we need them to help us mount a food revoultion in Walton County schools!

 

[rapunzel]

Alice Waters wrote a great Op-Ed on this subject --

THIS new era of government bailouts and widespread concern over wasteful spending offers an opportunity to take a hard look at the National School Lunch Program. Launched in 1946 as a public safety net, it has turned out to be a poor investment. It should be redesigned to make our children healthier.

Under the program, the United States Department of Agriculture gives public schools cash for every meal they serve ? $2.57 for a free lunch, $2.17 for a reduced-price lunch and 24 cents for a paid lunch. In 2007, the program cost around $9 billion, a figure widely acknowledged as inadequate to cover food costs. But what most people don?t realize is that very little of this money even goes toward food. Schools have to use it to pay for everything from custodial services to heating in the cafeteria.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/opinion/20waters.html