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Good for Jamie Oliver. And, shame on the LA school system for not allowing him to come in (free of charge) to upgrade their school food system.
School lunches have been disgusting since I was a kid in the 80s. Most meals are a mix of processed government-supplied crap, high in calories and low in nutrition. Frozen pizza, tater tot, chicken patties, burgers with the aforementioned pink slime, etc. The sad part is that for many poor children free school lunch the only chance they have to eat a hot nutritious meal.
Michelle Obama hoped push some reforms through; they were passed into law last week. But they don't do anything to address the mystery meat and low-nutrition food like fries. At least it's a start.
I'd really encourage parents everywhere to petition your schools for change. Until this year, our school cafeteria served the same slop as most U.S. schools. When the cafeteria director retired after about 25 years on the job, they hired a young chef who is passionate about nutrition.
First, he got rid of all the processed garbage (he donated it to a foodshelf). Then he switched to an all-natural menu that still appeals to kids. My girls love his homemade pizzas with veggie toppings, his homemade soups and quiches and just about everything else he makes.
He also has "tastings" where kids can sample new items and offer feedback so he can tweak his recipes before he serves them. He's completely turned our cafeteria around.
I'd really encourage parents everywhere to petition your schools for change. Until this year, our school cafeteria served the same slop as most U.S. schools. When the cafeteria director retired after about 25 years on the job, they hired a young chef who is passionate about nutrition.
First, he got rid of all the processed garbage (he donated it to a foodshelf). Then he switched to an all-natural menu that still appeals to kids. My girls love his homemade pizzas with veggie toppings, his homemade soups and quiches and just about everything else he makes.
He also has "tastings" where kids can sample new items and offer feedback so he can tweak his recipes before he serves them. He's completely turned our cafeteria around.
How many kids are in your school, though? It's a great idea for smaller schools but not very practical for bigger schools. Our elementary school has 1000 kids and I think it's amazing that they manage to offer three choices of meals every day (one is always a salad option).
How many kids are in your school, though? It's a great idea for smaller schools but not very practical for bigger schools. Our elementary school has 1000 kids and I think it's amazing that they manage to offer three choices of meals every day (one is always a salad option).
Our elementary school has about 350 kids. I've heard that about 50 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch, but I don't know how many sign up for it. (the school gets govt $ for every kid signed up and the chef uses it to buy healthy food rather than accepting the govt food, which some schools take instead of the cash).
You're right. It would be hard to implement in a large school, but I've seen Jamie Oliver do it in some very large schools in Texas when he had his special TV series on the topic last year.
The key is to get the food-services staff on board. When our new chef took over, half the staff quit b/c they didn't want to spend time chopping veggies and doing the more labor intensive prep work.
I've read that school lunches are much healthier in Europe and industrialized Asian countries where the student populations can be quite high, so there must be a way to do it at the larger schools in the U.S. It would just take a whole new mindset, from the govt food subsidy programs to the food services staff at the schools.
Good for Jamie Oliver. And, shame on the LA school system for not allowing him to come in (free of charge) to upgrade their school food system.
School lunches have been disgusting since I was a kid in the 80s. Most meals are a mix of processed government-supplied crap, high in calories and low in nutrition. Frozen pizza, tater tot, chicken patties, burgers with the aforementioned pink slime, etc. The sad part is that for many poor children free school lunch the only chance they have to eat a hot nutritious meal.
Michelle Obama hoped push some reforms through; they were passed into law last week. But they don't do anything to address the mystery meat and low-nutrition food like fries. At least it's a start.
I'd really encourage parents everywhere to petition your schools for change. Until this year, our school cafeteria served the same slop as most U.S. schools. When the cafeteria director retired after about 25 years on the job, they hired a young chef who is passionate about nutrition.
First, he got rid of all the processed garbage (he donated it to a foodshelf). Then he switched to an all-natural menu that still appeals to kids. My girls love his homemade pizzas with veggie toppings, his homemade soups and quiches and just about everything else he makes.
He also has "tastings" where kids can sample new items and offer feedback so he can tweak his recipes before he serves them. He's completely turned our cafeteria around.
That's not surprising, since they are not giving the students healthier versions of the food they like (that should always be the first step). You cannot change kids tastes overnight. Also, you have to begin educating kids on healthy choices from the very beginning (preK or K) and you probably need to educate parents too. It would be interesting to get parents on board by providing a way to garden so that they could get healthy food inexpensively.
of course the best solution is to start our children off with good nutrition from the get go. Making separate meals for a picky eater is a big mistake. My kids friends can't believe they have never set food in a McDonalds in their lives. Now we have been to plenty of restaurants in our family but I plan it so they/we aren't caught away from home without the right kind of food. It takes a bit of planning but it is worth it. I can take these kids to any home or restaurant and know they will pick something healthy and tasty. And we are not vegan.
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