For me, the most important point in this article was about the atmosphere in US school cafeterias. I love the French idea of family-style meals, where table manners and conversation are nourished. In the schools that I have worked in here in the US, school lunch-time is a loud, chaotic mess, with low-paid cafeteria aids yelling at huge groups of children, who sit at long tables. I think that the children do not learn any pro-social lessons from such an unpleasant atmosphere. I wonder what sort of adults they will grow up to be.
29
Please understand--those who don't seem to--that you can't force children to like what they don't like.
My little family was of mixed ethnicity, with a then-spouse who insisted we all eat the food of his culture, which I dutifully cooked fresh every weekend and froze in portions for the week, since we both had full-time jobs. My child hated that stuff, was a very poor eater; sat miserably at the table being harangued by his father while poking food around on his plate. Finally I put my foot down; began to give my child what he loved--pasta, chicken nuggets (breast meat without preservatives), toasted cheese sandwiches with tomato on top, etc. He finished everything on his plate; had seconds. His favorite snacks were cashews, sometimes chips or Goldfish. He wasn't a dessert eater.
He went away to college; roomed with a variety of people; his food horizons expanded; he learned to eat things he'd never have touched at home. But I didn't starve him because he couldn't conform to what someone else demanded he eat.
My little family was of mixed ethnicity, with a then-spouse who insisted we all eat the food of his culture, which I dutifully cooked fresh every weekend and froze in portions for the week, since we both had full-time jobs. My child hated that stuff, was a very poor eater; sat miserably at the table being harangued by his father while poking food around on his plate. Finally I put my foot down; began to give my child what he loved--pasta, chicken nuggets (breast meat without preservatives), toasted cheese sandwiches with tomato on top, etc. He finished everything on his plate; had seconds. His favorite snacks were cashews, sometimes chips or Goldfish. He wasn't a dessert eater.
He went away to college; roomed with a variety of people; his food horizons expanded; he learned to eat things he'd never have touched at home. But I didn't starve him because he couldn't conform to what someone else demanded he eat.
21
The article incorrectly cites a study that one-third of children eat fast food every day. If you click on the link, the study actually says that on any given day, one-third of children will eat fast food.
16
In France, school lunches are served on china plates with metallic forks and knives, not on plastic trays with holes that you fill up with food like you do for dogs and cats. This makes food much more appetizing for students and makes them feel that they are treated with respect.
19
Interesting that is accepted without question that public school food services is a federal responsibility
12
So let me get this straight. Lunch is the problem with American schools. Not teachers, not curriculum, not facilities, not lack of supplies, not parental involvement, but lunch? If we just fed them better, they'd all be better students, learn more, appreciate learning more, become better citizens, and we'd all have a better country. Lunch. The problem is lunch. Got it.
7
Take away the vending machines--that would be a good first start. Pizza is a loved food in this country and it can easily be made healthy with veggies and good cheese. The big problem is the control of the school lunch program by BigAg and Big Junk Food businesses. It can be fixed.
23
Seems like the first step that could be taken to get the money where it belongs would be to forbid its use for overhead, accounting, etc. Those are the responsibility of the school district. That $3 for food should go for - well, food.
15
Yes most school lunches in the US&A are junk but a comparison with the copiousness of European lunches is unfair. In Europe lunch is the day's main meal. Here it's supper.
5
The author doesn't touch on another major difference between France and the U.S.-the percentage of students receiving free school lunches and breakfasts. We learn the French use a progressive payment approach but not if, as in many U.S. School districts, the majority of students qualify for free school lunches. The level of poverty may not be the same and, as a result, French schools have more money to work with. Our schools cannot cover the costs on the $3 per student the government provides; can't risk raising fees too much for those who pay and risk losing more customers; and face ever growing numbers of families who cannot afford to pay.
7
I went to HS in France, so I remember the great lunches. One big difference in my French HS was that families paid for the lunches for an entire semester, and no one, absolutely no one, brought their lunch. Brownbagging it is not reallly part of French culture.
I also remember that my elementary school, back in the 70's, had a real kitchen and actual cooks. The food wasn't awesome, but it was real food. It was largely middle American homey food. We had chicken that had actual bones in it, and vegetable soup, and salisbury steak, and cooked vegetables: stewed tomatoes, or creamed corn, or spinach, or caulifower with cheese. Not many kids brought their lunches because it was a somewhat poor area. don't see why schools couldn't do that again.
I also remember that my elementary school, back in the 70's, had a real kitchen and actual cooks. The food wasn't awesome, but it was real food. It was largely middle American homey food. We had chicken that had actual bones in it, and vegetable soup, and salisbury steak, and cooked vegetables: stewed tomatoes, or creamed corn, or spinach, or caulifower with cheese. Not many kids brought their lunches because it was a somewhat poor area. don't see why schools couldn't do that again.
21
My children have been in the public school system for a total of 15 years now. I have never allowed them to buy a school lunch. I pack them a healthy well rounded lunch on the days I work. On my off days I often bring them a warm lunch of last nights leftovers. They come home from school many days bragging that all their friends were jealous of their lunches.
My eldest son was home from college over the Christmas break and said he felt so much better from all the healthy eating. He vowed to go back to school a make better food choices. It is always a work in progress.
My eldest son was home from college over the Christmas break and said he felt so much better from all the healthy eating. He vowed to go back to school a make better food choices. It is always a work in progress.
16
My parent's aren't American and I never ate school lunch while growing up in the US and attending public schools. I would always take a thermos with last night's left overs. Yes, the Shepard's pie was a homogeneous mass come lunchtime but it was warm and healthy. If there were no dinner left overs, maybe once a week, I would get a sandwich and pudding or yogurt or something. Loved it!!!
1
Feed them buckwheat, a thin gruel, and a stick of cheese or sausage for lunch. For extra toss in a slice of apple, pear, or orange. Take away the vending machines. Let them eat or starve.
4
I recommend looking at the Japanese school meals as a model. I was there for a while teaching an MBA course and given that I was a state school board member the Minister of Education met with me and set up some school visits.
I was impressed with how they have each classroom serve their own lunches. Each classroom had dishes and sinks and the students had to respect and take care of cleaning.
There was a central cook room and a few students would go get the rice and stew and bring back to a classroom for all to eat. These were healthy meals yet at low cost.
But in Japan the students are also responsible for cleaning their rooms, the hallways, even the bathrooms. They don't spend money on Janitors but use student labor, train them to do the cleaning and instill respect for property and an obligation to keep things safe, clean and useable by everyone.
I would be at a train station and a million people would go through it each day. Most smoked, yet no cigarette butts were on the ground. The values learned as students meant that people put their cigarettes in plastic bags they each carried, and emptied those in trash barrels. Multiple good values learned and a more respectful community created for life.
I was impressed with how they have each classroom serve their own lunches. Each classroom had dishes and sinks and the students had to respect and take care of cleaning.
There was a central cook room and a few students would go get the rice and stew and bring back to a classroom for all to eat. These were healthy meals yet at low cost.
But in Japan the students are also responsible for cleaning their rooms, the hallways, even the bathrooms. They don't spend money on Janitors but use student labor, train them to do the cleaning and instill respect for property and an obligation to keep things safe, clean and useable by everyone.
I would be at a train station and a million people would go through it each day. Most smoked, yet no cigarette butts were on the ground. The values learned as students meant that people put their cigarettes in plastic bags they each carried, and emptied those in trash barrels. Multiple good values learned and a more respectful community created for life.
40
Please don't blame the schools for your child's bad lunch. Remember the Jamie Oliver attempt to clean up school lunches? The kids didn't even want to touch his food because they were used to the junk they were served at home. Chicken fingers and Lunchables, anyone?
16
There is a free school lunch program in India started by Harvard alumni, and feeds wholesome fresh hot meals to over 1.5 million children. They plan to expand the program to 5 million this year. The kitchens start at 3AM every morning; are equipped with mechanized assembly lines that produce 60,000 roti's in an hour - thanks to Caterpillar for retrofitting their farm equipment.
Do visit their website and learn: Akshaya Patra [bottomless pot]
Do visit their website and learn: Akshaya Patra [bottomless pot]
5
Part of my disgust is that food has become Political and the school lunch program is manipulated, in congress and elsewhere, by the processed food industry. America: for the corporation, by the corporation, and of the corporation; all else be dammed.
29
"The Real Problem With Lunch"
-----------------------
American schools educate students to eat healthy then surround them with junk food, sugary drinks, and vending machines.
Seems the real purpose of school lunch is to teach students hypocrisy, disrespect, greed, and "do as we say, not as we do".
-----------------------
American schools educate students to eat healthy then surround them with junk food, sugary drinks, and vending machines.
Seems the real purpose of school lunch is to teach students hypocrisy, disrespect, greed, and "do as we say, not as we do".
6
It all boils down to the fact that in America, concern for children begins at conception and ends at birth.
57
I always love doing outdoor things with my wonderful grandson, biking, swimming, climbing etc but his eating habits are entirely inadequate for the amount of energy he needs. There's constant requests for sugar based foods, snack or drinks. These things are, of course, always available. Besides the quick rush I also notice his unwillingness to explore or even look at other foods.
3
Awhile back the author Harlan Coben wrote an op-ed for the NYT, complaining about the ubiquity of 'snacks' at children's athletic events and other gatherings, and the expectation to provide them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/opinion/27coben.html
'Do our kids need yet another bag of Doritos and a juice box with enough sugar to coat a Honda Odyssey? Can’t they just finish playing and have some water?' pleaded Coben. Not to mention 'healthful' snacks: 'I don’t have time to slice up 50 orange wedges that the kids will never eat because last week’s cool parent brought Ho Hos and Hawaiian Punch.'
Coben's issue was with the ubiquity of food, the expectation that everyone is, or should be, constantly eating - a pattern continues into adulthood. But as Coben snarls, 'Precious can go an hour — maybe more! — without eating.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/opinion/27coben.html
'Do our kids need yet another bag of Doritos and a juice box with enough sugar to coat a Honda Odyssey? Can’t they just finish playing and have some water?' pleaded Coben. Not to mention 'healthful' snacks: 'I don’t have time to slice up 50 orange wedges that the kids will never eat because last week’s cool parent brought Ho Hos and Hawaiian Punch.'
Coben's issue was with the ubiquity of food, the expectation that everyone is, or should be, constantly eating - a pattern continues into adulthood. But as Coben snarls, 'Precious can go an hour — maybe more! — without eating.'
15
Thank you for your realistic assessment of issues with school meals in the United States. Few people railing on the problems with school meals understand the cost pressures imposed on school lunch directors, the lack of adequate equipment and trained personnel or the take over of these operations by food service companies; all factors that move against the possibility of preparing meals, even snacks, on the school site. You were particularly insightful noting that until our values support serving well prepared and nourishing food to our children, mystery meat will still be part of our culture. Meanwhile, those of us who work to change national, state, and local food policies around meals served to children need to attach realistic cost estimates to supporting changes in child nutrition programs.
22
Even in American restaurants the kids' menu lists fries, hamburgers, pizza and pasta with little sign of a vegetable. When I taught high school in poor areas I was shocked to realize that many students lived on fast food. However, most shocking was to see the terrible food in the lunch line, the vending machines and being sold to raise money for clubs and teams at schools. This system continues because many teachers, parents and administrators are unaware or unconvinced of the importance of nutrition in health. Reform is coming, but so slowly.
30
It is not just children. As the writer points out, the problem is with American food culture in general. How can you expect children to appreciate good food if their parents consider McDonald's to be a treat? We live in the area of California that has a wonderful food culture due to a large number of immigrants from China, India and Europe. Food trucks are everywhere, along with excellent ethnic restaurants. And yet even here we have obese kids in proportions far higher than in China and Italy, both of which I visited recently. The correlation is indeed with poverty but poverty of taste and education rather than of money. I see fat parents with fat kids filling their supermarket carts with junk I would not touch if I were starving. In China, on the other hand, I saw rural families living on a couple of dollars a day make fresh vegetable dumplings from scratch. The best cuisine is based on traditional peasant dishes and street food from around the world. Did peasants a hundred years ago have more access to fresh ingredients than the American poor do today? Schools are not supposed to make up for every flaw of the children's home life. Start with the kids' minds if you want them to appreciate good books, good science, and good food.
15
The farm to school programs work well to reduce food costs, support local agriculture and provide fresh, seasonal produce. In the 1970s-80s, the USDA supported the Nutrition Education and Training program to work with students, teachers, cafeteria staff, and parents. It was a multi-pronged effort to improve school lunch, prepare students to accept more healthful food, and encourage parents to follow through at home. Make no mistake. We know what works--but there needs to be public support for the investment to make it happen.
5
Why do schools need to offer hot food at lunch? If we took the resources devoted to cooking at each school and offered a menu consisting of salad items, cold cuts, sandwiches, cheese and fruit, lunch would be a better meal at the same cost.
10
Why assume that more money and school involvement is necessary at all? Close the cafeteria service and have everyone bring their lunch in from home. Grant additional funds to families that would normally qualify for free or reduced cost meals. Problem solved.
2
Jean Paul wrote "Grant additional funds to families .... Problem solved."
All so simple. Children arriving in public schools come from a far wider range of "family situations" than what most Americans have any personal experience with. Any list, illiteracy, drug dependency, mental illness, maintaining multiple jobs... is delusionally incomplete when measuring the real world troubles of children.
I agree with you, Jean Paul, that if our society were willing to invest in family education in nutrition, the high upfront costs would be return a great refund in less healthcare dependent young citizens. Everyone involved would benefit, in the percentage that could engage.
Unfortunately, that is not 100%. Sometimes families are so dysfunctional or preoccupied with complex challenges there is no accounting for all, but i agree would it would be a great start.
The greatest challenge is that a huge sector of our political culture that appeals to its base advocating disinvestment in our institutions. They provide a constant refrain that we can't solve any problems as a community, and that if these problem people only pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, as they themselves did (presumably) then the problem people would not be a problem.
Faith in each other and goodwill comes at too high a cost for some ends of the political spectrum.
All so simple. Children arriving in public schools come from a far wider range of "family situations" than what most Americans have any personal experience with. Any list, illiteracy, drug dependency, mental illness, maintaining multiple jobs... is delusionally incomplete when measuring the real world troubles of children.
I agree with you, Jean Paul, that if our society were willing to invest in family education in nutrition, the high upfront costs would be return a great refund in less healthcare dependent young citizens. Everyone involved would benefit, in the percentage that could engage.
Unfortunately, that is not 100%. Sometimes families are so dysfunctional or preoccupied with complex challenges there is no accounting for all, but i agree would it would be a great start.
The greatest challenge is that a huge sector of our political culture that appeals to its base advocating disinvestment in our institutions. They provide a constant refrain that we can't solve any problems as a community, and that if these problem people only pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, as they themselves did (presumably) then the problem people would not be a problem.
Faith in each other and goodwill comes at too high a cost for some ends of the political spectrum.
4
Let's not ignore that fact that we parents from the Boomer generation are also to blame. As a group, we have allowed our kids to eat garbage foods at home because, we whine, "they won't eat what we eat." Many of us have given up.
My parents prepared one well-balanced dinner for the whole family. If I didn't eat it, then I went hungry. The following evening, I made sure not to make that mistake again. I am so grateful that I learned how to eat properly from them!
My parents prepared one well-balanced dinner for the whole family. If I didn't eat it, then I went hungry. The following evening, I made sure not to make that mistake again. I am so grateful that I learned how to eat properly from them!
9
It can and is being done at a number of schools around the country--especially charter schools. Here on the Left Coast, for example, Peabody Charter School in Santa Barbara has its own kitchen, cooks meals from scratch, frequently incorporates local organic veggies, and sells the meals for $2.75 each. See their menus here: http://www.peabodycharter.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?type=d&uREC_ID=18...
4
It's difficult to base a nationwide program on a wealthy, affluent West Coast charter school that probably gets heavily subsidized by parents. Organic -- honestly?
5
Not "food culture."
Culture, period.
Note that the French are not paragons of healthy living. Thirty-one percent of the French smoke, more than double the US rate.
But remember that our school lunch program wasn't instituted for the welfare of children. It is a support for the agricultural industry,
This newspaper has not been helpful in promoting healthy eating. The "great Southern cooks" who've been highlighted recently--who use Crisco, or use ham to add flavor to their fried chicken, or make desserts with several different forms of sugar, in hefty quantities--were ecstatically lauded by their chroniclers and by many commenters. So the hypocrisy of bewailing many families' food choices--culturally influenced--is considerable.
As for schools--everything pertaining to them is underfunded. But also don't forget that the needs of growing and sometimes very hungry children have been poorly served by the newest "healthy food" regulations. Kids who thrive on whole milk are offered that vile chocolate skim abomination because we're afraid of fat. And children who've had a poor dinner the night before won't swarm the salad bar at school the next day. For them, a pizza--which can be topped with many interesting things, to encourage wider taste choices--is actually an excellent choice.
Culture, period.
Note that the French are not paragons of healthy living. Thirty-one percent of the French smoke, more than double the US rate.
But remember that our school lunch program wasn't instituted for the welfare of children. It is a support for the agricultural industry,
This newspaper has not been helpful in promoting healthy eating. The "great Southern cooks" who've been highlighted recently--who use Crisco, or use ham to add flavor to their fried chicken, or make desserts with several different forms of sugar, in hefty quantities--were ecstatically lauded by their chroniclers and by many commenters. So the hypocrisy of bewailing many families' food choices--culturally influenced--is considerable.
As for schools--everything pertaining to them is underfunded. But also don't forget that the needs of growing and sometimes very hungry children have been poorly served by the newest "healthy food" regulations. Kids who thrive on whole milk are offered that vile chocolate skim abomination because we're afraid of fat. And children who've had a poor dinner the night before won't swarm the salad bar at school the next day. For them, a pizza--which can be topped with many interesting things, to encourage wider taste choices--is actually an excellent choice.
6
When I was in basic training back in 1966, I drew KP regularly. The rear of the mess halls were all in a row and daily trucks would come by and dump off the same provisions for each mess hall one by one. And we would then drag the stuff inside. But what happened after that varied widely. It all depended the mess sergeant since the cooks themselves, mostly draftees, could not have cared less. Apparently my training brigade had a good mess sergeant as we had fine meals three times a day (the only thing I enjoyed). Guys in other brigades complained bitterly about the 'army food', but none of us did. Earlier in my life in the various schools I attended it was same, a wide variation depending cafeteria staff. The point being the skill, attitude and integrity of the cooks and the direction they receive are as important as anything. It seems that in the years that followed that uniformity has been lost. With the invasion of junk food vending machines, greasy salty tasty fast food abundantly available and ever more miserly funding of school lunch programs, we have lost our way.
6
Fresh healthful food requires a great deal of attention to absolutely safe handling conditions. We can only ponder the current situation of Chipotle, a good company which has gotten a great deal of sensationalist press coverage for having problems with using fresh, locally sourced ingredients. When it doesn't work out well (as it is claimed it has not in a couple of locations) then people get sick. Chipotle has the resources (and is using them) to fix the situation, but it's hard to imagine the public school folks having the resources to train workers to standards that strict. So that leaves us with safe and standard and not very good food in the schools.
5
The sorry state of institutional dining in the U.S. is depressing, but the notion that processed turkey cold-cuts are a healthy alternative, expressed by many of the commenters here, is alarming.
6
When I was growing up, we had an actual school cafeteria. The cooks were typically middle-aged women wearing white uniforms and hair nets. They were awesome! Every day, they prepared a meat, a starch and a vegetable that was always hot, usually tasty and plentiful. On Thursdays, we got hamburgers. For desserts, the cooks laid out liberal servings of homemade pies, cake or fruit cobbler topped with real whipped cream. Children without the means to pay for lunch got a free lunch by helping out in the lunch room, for example, cleaning off tables or cashiering.
4
When our son was in elementary school, a mother remarked that she was shocked when her son said that the pear (Bartlett) in my son's lunch, was wrapped in bubble wrap! "How else can you pack that in a school lunch"?
"No one gives fruit in their kid's lunch"!
"No one gives fruit in their kid's lunch"!
1
I have tutored for years at an elementary school, and I would estimate that perhaps a third of the food that is given to the kids in the cafeteria ends up in the garbage. You can't force kids to eat what's good for them.
2
In one of the schools where my wife worked they had a science project that involved collecting all of the waste food from the cafeteria, feeding it to a pair of pigs and then weighing them. They certainly had two very large pigs by the end of the school year.
1
American parents have surrendered to corporate America, makers of junk food. They let their kids develop taste buds that will accept nothing but processed junk. Scallops? Lamb? Are you kidding? American kids won't touch these even if their schools provide them!
You can give the school lunch program all the money in the world, but until our food culture changes, pizzas and french fries are still going to be the best sellers.
You can give the school lunch program all the money in the world, but until our food culture changes, pizzas and french fries are still going to be the best sellers.
5
When I was a kid in rural South Carolina (mid 60s) the cafeteria food was strictly local and in retrospect reasonably good for you. It often featured beans and cornbread, stewed tomatoes and believe it or not local scuppernongs (wild grapes for those not in the know). Lots of collards, homemade bread, etc All of it made by the beloved lunch ladies. Never had hamburgers, pizza was unknown, the closest we got to chicken nuggets was chicken fried steak. Maybe we need to re-think along these lines...
51
Yet another 'they do things so much better in France" piece in the NYT. Frankly, my dears, as a nation they do a lot of things that are appalling. I'd like to see what the school lunches look like in the schools in the poorest part of someplace like Marseilles, where public housing holds plenty of Algerians and Africans.
Regardless of what is served to our kids, though, it is the gross waste of food in US school lunch programs that galls me. I hear those gory details straight from the mouths of teachers -- food going straight from the serving line into a waste bin. Do we need this? I managed to get through school without ever having been served a hot lunch because I always carried a packed meal, from kindergarten through 12th grade. Yes, we need to provide food to poor kids from "food insecure" families (or families unable to put together a lunch bag), but surely there are more efficient ways to do that than to offer full cafeteria service everywhere?
Regardless of what is served to our kids, though, it is the gross waste of food in US school lunch programs that galls me. I hear those gory details straight from the mouths of teachers -- food going straight from the serving line into a waste bin. Do we need this? I managed to get through school without ever having been served a hot lunch because I always carried a packed meal, from kindergarten through 12th grade. Yes, we need to provide food to poor kids from "food insecure" families (or families unable to put together a lunch bag), but surely there are more efficient ways to do that than to offer full cafeteria service everywhere?
5
If kids could eat the excuses, they'd be well fed indeed...
It's simple... we CAN do MUCH better...
Simply, we don't...
It's simple... we CAN do MUCH better...
Simply, we don't...
2
Something else is going on too- kids are throwing away fruit and veggies. I know, because I have a HS classroom with a trashcan in the hall that overflows every afternoon with apples, oranges, carrots, salads with tomatoes, and so on, while the kids walk by with huge bags of Hot Cheetos, giant bottles of Gatorade, and a bag of Sour Patch Kids. Then they complain about feeling sick, and they can't focus in 5th and 6th period.
Why? Read Michael Moss's incisive and disturbing book "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us" for answers. Kids have been ruined; their very tongues and palates have been programmed to throw away the very things their bodies are desperate for.
We should start by cancelling all contracts with Frito Lay, Coca Cola, etc, and get rid of the vending machines, funding be damned. After all, how much money are we ultimately losing because of the American diet? From there, we revise the curricula nationwide to mandate nutrition at every grade level. Then we work to get fresh grocery back into lower sociodemographic areas, either through subsidies or tax breaks.
Whatever we do, it has to be something else, unless we want to live like the inhabitants of the Axiom in Wall-E.
Why? Read Michael Moss's incisive and disturbing book "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us" for answers. Kids have been ruined; their very tongues and palates have been programmed to throw away the very things their bodies are desperate for.
We should start by cancelling all contracts with Frito Lay, Coca Cola, etc, and get rid of the vending machines, funding be damned. After all, how much money are we ultimately losing because of the American diet? From there, we revise the curricula nationwide to mandate nutrition at every grade level. Then we work to get fresh grocery back into lower sociodemographic areas, either through subsidies or tax breaks.
Whatever we do, it has to be something else, unless we want to live like the inhabitants of the Axiom in Wall-E.
13
Articles of this nature drive me nuts. I work in an elementary school where students have access to a buffet of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Nutrition services and administration pay close attention to which entrees the students like and fine tune menus accordingly, walking a fine line between healthiness and what the kids will actually eat. If a child does not like the entree of the day they can have a sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwich, which many of them love. Students are required to take a fruit and vegetable as part of their meal. Our school district, like many, has a very diverse student body. This year a chicken and rice dish is offered for breakfast, as many of them are accustomed to having this for breakfast at home. Despite these efforts, the amount waste is staggering. (Food scraps are sold to pig farmers and students are directly involved in this recycling program.) There is no way that anyone is going to come up with a menu that appeals to every child every day. Our district offers them healthy food and encourages them to eat wisely. But there is no way that children will be brow beaten into eating what we think they should eat.
2
Children are trained, from earliest childhood, to disdain healthful and wholesome foods. When I went vegetarian upon turning 18 and had to begin to cook for myself, it was a revelation to discover the variety of unusual tastes and textures that I'd never been exposed to because it was just assumed I wouldn't eat them - 'kids don't like vegetables.' Interestingly, that meme persisted even in the face of evidence of my seeking out foods 'kids don't like', such as asking for seconds and thirds of my grandma's lima beans. My mother did cook vegetables - but only for herself, separately, on the assumption that 'kids don't like vegetables', and because my father and older sister wouldn't eat any vegetables but corn, potatoes, the occasional peas, and tomato sauce.
Not just our family. I remember many years ago, watching a TV reporter interview children at a school that had introduced a healthful lunch menu. She squatted down beside them. 'Don't you think vegetables are yucky?' she demanded. 'You aren't going to eat this, are you?' (Talk about your leading questions. Good thing she wasn't interviewing them on whether they'd been molested, or it would have been McMartin Preschool all over again.) The default position is that you have to give children sugary junk because they won't eat anything else - a sef-fulfilling prophecy.
Not just our family. I remember many years ago, watching a TV reporter interview children at a school that had introduced a healthful lunch menu. She squatted down beside them. 'Don't you think vegetables are yucky?' she demanded. 'You aren't going to eat this, are you?' (Talk about your leading questions. Good thing she wasn't interviewing them on whether they'd been molested, or it would have been McMartin Preschool all over again.) The default position is that you have to give children sugary junk because they won't eat anything else - a sef-fulfilling prophecy.
12
This reminds me of Oklahoma and tornadoes. Study the tracks of tornadoes and a reasonable conclusion, no inch of Oklahoma will go unscratched or scared given enough time. Yet Schools are built without tornado proof shelters. What value is good food lunch if you get blown away before school is let out. Values. As American's below the 10 % become poorer and the taxes they will vote to pay, what they value is compromised.
3
To the readers who believe the solution is to have all children being their own lunch: while good intentioned advice, this is ignorant of the reality faced by impoverished children in America. For many poor children the school lunch program (and breakfast) provided to them at no cost is their primary source of nutrition. Yes, it is no problem for a middle child family to pack a nutritious lunch for a few dollars, but it is impossible to pack any lunch for zero dollars.
15
Isn't that why we have food stamps? I'm sure they're getting them.
4
There are still food fights in school and the mashed potatoes still stick to the wall. School lunch menus haven't changed that much over the years and, as stated here, they reflect the art of the possible. Kids were getting overcooked spaghetti decades ago, before there was an obesity crisis. They get the same overcooked spaghetti today. School lunches have less to do with our overall nutrition than many folks think. But food policies that reflect our culture can help with the obesity problem. What is more American than the cafeteria food fight? And if the mashed potatoes are stuck to the wall, they are not increasing our kids' calorie consumption.
Some extremely good points, but these kids are eating that same garbage at home. It really is about parents' regard for their children.
4
Another thing about eating in Europe versus the US is speed. The first time I went to Germany and ate out, I found that the table we had was ours for the night, regardless of when we were finished with dinner. No waiter or waitress forced to nag me so the restaurant could get a second seating.
In our school district (and it's no doubt the same across the rest of the state), my kids have twenty total minutes for lunch. So, if it takes them ten minutes to get through the lunch line, that means they have ten minutes to consume lunch. Ten minutes! So, they either wind up throwing most of the lunch away (encouraging habits of food waste), or they have to wolf it down (encouraging habits of fast eating, which is a known contributor to obesity). Can't we extend the school day by a half-hour to give the kids the "luxury" of forty whole minutes to eat their food?
In our school district (and it's no doubt the same across the rest of the state), my kids have twenty total minutes for lunch. So, if it takes them ten minutes to get through the lunch line, that means they have ten minutes to consume lunch. Ten minutes! So, they either wind up throwing most of the lunch away (encouraging habits of food waste), or they have to wolf it down (encouraging habits of fast eating, which is a known contributor to obesity). Can't we extend the school day by a half-hour to give the kids the "luxury" of forty whole minutes to eat their food?
15
The 2016 budget for the Department of Defense is $585 billion. The one for the Department of Education is $71 billion. That's where our national priorities lie. It would sure be nice if we swapped those numbers. Let's face it: a lot of the DoD money is corporate welfare. Well it could be the same even if it went to school districts instead of the Lockheed Martins.
14
There are two important, but underlying parts to this Op-Ed.
First: When the larger school district is broken-up into smaller Independent, City or Local districts, more money consequently generally goes toward education--through property taxes—for the local children. Thus, wealthier families’ higher property taxes enhance their own children’s education. Conversely, the children of lower-income families are often deprived of as good an education since they attend more cash-deprived public schools.
And second: At the same time, the American deficit-hawk mentality is over-used. When everyone's children receives a better education, that means that the overall local region will have: better-trained younger people entering the workforce; a more effective citizenry; less incarcerations, higher future tax receipts, a higher quality-of-life; etc.
Its time to take a truly longer-term, more comprehensive look at Education, rather than a short-term approach, with over-analysis and searching for budget cuts. Education should be one of those sacred programs, on which everyone should want to lavish funding, rather than squeeze it.
http://thetruthoncommonsense.com
First: When the larger school district is broken-up into smaller Independent, City or Local districts, more money consequently generally goes toward education--through property taxes—for the local children. Thus, wealthier families’ higher property taxes enhance their own children’s education. Conversely, the children of lower-income families are often deprived of as good an education since they attend more cash-deprived public schools.
And second: At the same time, the American deficit-hawk mentality is over-used. When everyone's children receives a better education, that means that the overall local region will have: better-trained younger people entering the workforce; a more effective citizenry; less incarcerations, higher future tax receipts, a higher quality-of-life; etc.
Its time to take a truly longer-term, more comprehensive look at Education, rather than a short-term approach, with over-analysis and searching for budget cuts. Education should be one of those sacred programs, on which everyone should want to lavish funding, rather than squeeze it.
http://thetruthoncommonsense.com
5
Our school lunches reflect some difficult truths about our nation--it's a very concrete manifestation of the massive inequality and lack of opportunity that characterize our era.
In many American schools, almost all students "qualify for free lunch"; which means their families are poor. Oh, yeah, and free breakfast too. These are very likely the only meals these children will get. When school is out, they go hungry. Their families go to food pantries, church food kitchens, and other charitable food programs--these places always run out of food before everybody who needs food gets some.
Hunger is a real issue in America. A family earning minimum wage will not have enough left over after paying rent, utilities, transportation, and child care to buy food. In all fields of work, even for educated people, there is downward pressure on wages as more unemployed people will work for less and less. (The job I worked 20 years ago is obsolete; and now I compete for work with people who will charge practically nothing. You get what you pay for in this world, but for some companies the lowest price tag wins out.)
We are said to be a wealthy country; but that's concentrated at the top. Many individuals, both urban and rural, are not making it. When we look to other nations for comparison, we should be looking at poor countries, not France and Italy. Sad but true.
In many American schools, almost all students "qualify for free lunch"; which means their families are poor. Oh, yeah, and free breakfast too. These are very likely the only meals these children will get. When school is out, they go hungry. Their families go to food pantries, church food kitchens, and other charitable food programs--these places always run out of food before everybody who needs food gets some.
Hunger is a real issue in America. A family earning minimum wage will not have enough left over after paying rent, utilities, transportation, and child care to buy food. In all fields of work, even for educated people, there is downward pressure on wages as more unemployed people will work for less and less. (The job I worked 20 years ago is obsolete; and now I compete for work with people who will charge practically nothing. You get what you pay for in this world, but for some companies the lowest price tag wins out.)
We are said to be a wealthy country; but that's concentrated at the top. Many individuals, both urban and rural, are not making it. When we look to other nations for comparison, we should be looking at poor countries, not France and Italy. Sad but true.
12
Of course, being in a culture that sees eating as a pastime and not a boring necessity, coupled with the proximity to abundant sources, a love for good food, and a population equivalent to that of New England and the Middle Atlantic states has nothing at all to do with it.
Ms. Siegel's arguments are wrapped in the usual liberal straw and propped on the hill so that she can whack away mightily with her little baton.
The biggest problem with school lunches is the mentality that one size fits all and that it is the government that has the power to dictate that.
Sorry...the lousy lunches in the schools of our nation are emblematic of the lousy job that the introduction of the liberal orthodoxy to education has done.
Why should we listen to an argument for "more of the same"?
Ms. Siegel's arguments are wrapped in the usual liberal straw and propped on the hill so that she can whack away mightily with her little baton.
The biggest problem with school lunches is the mentality that one size fits all and that it is the government that has the power to dictate that.
Sorry...the lousy lunches in the schools of our nation are emblematic of the lousy job that the introduction of the liberal orthodoxy to education has done.
Why should we listen to an argument for "more of the same"?
I taught in our public middle schools and high schools. The food was disgusting and no wonder that my own kids brown bagged it throughout their school years. Fruit, cheese, 1/2 sandwich was the norm. Then we had a home-cooked family dinner at 6 PM. If a school event interfered, it was still family sit-down before or after that time. My kids said we were the only family they knew who had this kind of dinner; consequently, we usually had strays (welcome) for family dinner. This was in the 90s. Both kids are the primary cooks in their households today, much to their spouses' delight. And no obesity in sight.
7
Maybe it's because I grew up in what was (and still is) considered a 'good' suburban school system, but our cafeterias provided a variety of tasty foods. For context: I'm a boomer (born 1955). K-6 kids were sent home for lunch, as in those days there was usually a mother at home or a friend or extended family. (I envied the few kids who brought lunchboxes and stayed in the classroom to eat, though don't ask me why. It wasn't a general status symbol - just to me personally it seemed so cool.) Grades 7-12 ate in a cafeteria (seniors could go off campus, which usually meant pizza or a burger joint).
My usual lunch would be a bowl of soup, a roll, possibly a side dish of a vegetable such as peas; dessert might be chocolate pudding, or a piece of fruit, depending on what was on offer, and milk to wash it down. I was a chubby kid, but not because I ate junk; I simply ate too darn much.
In the same district today, a lot of kids were actually having takeout delivered to the schools - the town has a LOT of restaurants; sometimes it seems restaurants and banks comprise the entire CBD - creating a campus security headache. Not fast food, stuff like bendo boxes.
My point isn't 'rich kids, poor kids, but that kids won't necessarily default to junk if you give them options.
My usual lunch would be a bowl of soup, a roll, possibly a side dish of a vegetable such as peas; dessert might be chocolate pudding, or a piece of fruit, depending on what was on offer, and milk to wash it down. I was a chubby kid, but not because I ate junk; I simply ate too darn much.
In the same district today, a lot of kids were actually having takeout delivered to the schools - the town has a LOT of restaurants; sometimes it seems restaurants and banks comprise the entire CBD - creating a campus security headache. Not fast food, stuff like bendo boxes.
My point isn't 'rich kids, poor kids, but that kids won't necessarily default to junk if you give them options.
I was an elementary principal in a poor rural school. Three out of four kids received free lunch under the Title I act. They were the only ones who ate school food. The rest brought their lunches, which consisted of mostly wholesome foods such as cut up veggies, slices of apples, lean meats, and whole grain breads. The free lunch kids received large portions of foods that would surely promote future heart conditions: deep fried chicken, hot dogs containing high concentrations of fats and sodium nitrite, white macaroni bathed in cheese sauce. I railed against it and asked the district to install a salad bar. All I heard was that the federal government was not required to provide fresh vegetables and fruits. The closest thing the poor kids came to a fruit was heavily sugared apple sauce or cling peaches in heavy syrup. Once I heard Reagan argue that ketchup was a vegetable I knew our poor kids' fate was sealed. Then, the coup d' grace. The year I retired, our school installed a soda machine over my strenuous objections. I was told the district would receive a new turf football field and scoreboard from the cola maker in exchange for "pouring rights." I could only think their were no "rights" for the poor. We are what we eat. Poor kids eating poor food. You do the math.
137
What are the kids eating at home? I'll bet you dollars to navy beans, much the same thing. In some areas of the country that may be cultural; just thinking of the stuff served at an Iowa county fair makes me gag (deep-fried Snickers bars?! gaah), and the origin of 'soul food' was in trying to make palatable the leftover stuff available to the slaves and ex-slave sharecroppers. By and large, people want the foods they're raised on, and it is quite probable that those kids will not eat the salad if their parents and social circle don't have salads as part of their normal diet.
2
This is so true and a microcosm for New York City. There is a big difference between what kids may get to eat in a good neighborhood school here that has parent involvement and the plastic wrapped microwaved hamburgers that are served in the poorest of NYC schools.
Yes, schools should provide food. This one way in which the public shares collective responsibility for our children. The mentality that says "parents should do it" fails to grasp the benefit of collective action and is part of the "everyone takes care of him or herself" philosophy that prevails in this country. Schools, if properly funded, can provide better food than parents can provide in a paper bag, particularly busy parents. Take the money from the military budget.
4
As with most issues in USA, race is central.
Raise my taxes to feed black kids?
Forget it!
Raise my taxes to feed black kids?
Forget it!
4
I can't believe you brought race into this. Have you no shame? Last time I looked, black people were a minority, not a majority.
2
I agree wholeheartedly with this writer. As a French teacher, I have often taken students to Dijon, where we all went to school with our Dijonnais counterparts, and the cafeteria lunches astounded me. First, the lunch period is one hour long, not the ridiculous 20 to 30 minutes we allow our students and teachers here. Fresh foods are served - roasted meats, cooked vegetables, sauces, salads, cheese, dessert. There was even a bit of red wine in the faculty dining room to accompany these wonderful meals. Kids eat adult food from the beginning at home and at school, so they develop a taste for real food, not the junk our schools and fast food restaurants put out. We need to change this and fast, as our youth are growing up unhealthy and too often, overweight. We need Jamie Oliver in every school!
13
I don't understand why they need so much variety, which opens the door to waste and production/ sourcing costs & other problems.
A fresh turkey sandwich, carrot sticks, an apple and some nuts & olives should be plenty. They don't need greasy, cheesy cooked slop.
A fresh turkey sandwich, carrot sticks, an apple and some nuts & olives should be plenty. They don't need greasy, cheesy cooked slop.
5
I've taught at the same high school for the past 15 years and I have yet to purchase a school lunch. Why? I have 20 minutes to walk to the cafeteria, go through the line, eat, and return my tray. And, I do not want a high carb laden diet. Everyday I bring an apple, carrots, a nut bar (this is the dessert element) and either almonds or low sodium turkey with no bread. Or I heat up leftovers which is also time consuming. Now all of a sudden, without a change in my eating habits, my cholesterol rose from 135 to over 200. Evidently my triglycerides were off the chart... possibly too many nuts and shellfish. Ugh!
The real problem with lunch is that adults don't really eat it in anymore any proper sense of the term. It was at one time the most important meal of the day, when everyone gathered around the table and savored a home-cooked meal, but the urbanization of society and other influences diminished the importance not only of lunch, but of family meals in general. Lunch is a hurried affair increasingly, even in Europe from what I understand. Our school lunch is just a reflection of that.
danschorr.blogspot.com
danschorr.blogspot.com
1
Please consider working to get money out of politics so we have officials accountable to the needs of the people, not the needs of ADM, Cargill, Kraft, ConAgra, McDonalds, Coke, Smithfield, Pfizer, Exxon, etc. What is best for bottom line of multi-nationals is not what is best for we, the people.
Case in point: does anyone other than a few multi-billion dollar agri/food giants think it makes sense to subsidize cheetos over carrots? Our rules/laws allow corporations to pollute the air, water, soil and bodies of children and not pay the costs. Whole food, cooked from scratch, is not more expensive. We all pay for the toxic food we feed our children in a variety of ways, e.g. higher healthcare costs. So much more is possible.
Lettuce squash indifference,
Farmer Tim
www.naturesfarmcamp.com
Case in point: does anyone other than a few multi-billion dollar agri/food giants think it makes sense to subsidize cheetos over carrots? Our rules/laws allow corporations to pollute the air, water, soil and bodies of children and not pay the costs. Whole food, cooked from scratch, is not more expensive. We all pay for the toxic food we feed our children in a variety of ways, e.g. higher healthcare costs. So much more is possible.
Lettuce squash indifference,
Farmer Tim
www.naturesfarmcamp.com
5
I live in a wealthy school district where there is a "farm to school" menu that serves local, organic vegetables and meats. Every school has a salad bar. The meal choices include a gluten-free and vegan option each day. Most of the elementary schools have gardens that supplement the school lunch. The high school has a food truck with that offers pork sliders, potstickers and tacos. The meals are cooked from scratch. The average price $3.50/meal. They have an aggressive approach in the elementary grades to change the children's behavior with planting gardens, studying nutrition, giving stickers to those eat at least 3 vegetables/fruit and having cooking competitions with the winner's menu being on the school menu the following year. It can be done but takes a concerted effort and support from the community and parents. The meal program also started crowd-funding to bring n extra money. It can serve as a model to others. see http://food.bvsd.org/meals/Pages/default.aspx
64
The optimum word here is wealthy. This is much harder to organize in a school where you have both parents working or single parents trying to survive...
1
These meals are also subsidized by private funds. The school district has been losing money on this program since it began. I teach in a Boulder high school, and most of the students who eat there are on free or reduced lunch programs or they're poor and don't have cars or bus fare to leave campus. The rich kids drive to fast food places for lunch, eating exactly the kinds of foods this article laments.
4
Very cool!
Why are schools providing lunch and in many cases breakfast for children? I am a working mom and for many years, while my children were in school I packed, and as they grew older, they packed their lunch with wholesome, simple items including a fresh fruit every day. Unlike many Western European countries, our culture is such that our main meal is in the evening and lunch, for most people,is a sandwich and a fruit or leftovers. Let's keep things simple. People who already receive food aid could perhaps receive a bit more to cover lunch and breakfast needs for their children. Additionally, SNAP should absolutely not cover processed foods and junk. If the well educated don't eat that stuff, why encourage it for the poor? By the way, in Europe, the day of the hot mid day meal is vanishing also. Many of my white collar working relatives who live in Italy also pack a "panino" and a fruit for their "pranzo" and eat the full dinner at home in the evening just like we Americans do. Of course, their food culture is quite different, but we here are also making strides in the types of food we eat. Getting everyone to cook simple meals at home with plenty of vegetables and fruits should be the number one goal of our society and government.x
5
"I am a working mom and for many years, while my children were in school I packed, and as they grew older, they packed their lunch with wholesome, simple items including a fresh fruit every day."
Working by choice, I'm guessing,
"Additionally, SNAP should absolutely not cover processed foods and junk. If the well educated don't eat that stuff, why encourage it for the poor?"
Let's stop right there. Who says "well educated" the opposite of "poor"?
"Getting everyone to cook simple meals at home with plenty of vegetables and fruits should be the number one goal of our society and government."
I can already hear your fellow Fox News fans screaming about Obama ramming brussels sprouts down their throats. It's a fetish with them.
Working by choice, I'm guessing,
"Additionally, SNAP should absolutely not cover processed foods and junk. If the well educated don't eat that stuff, why encourage it for the poor?"
Let's stop right there. Who says "well educated" the opposite of "poor"?
"Getting everyone to cook simple meals at home with plenty of vegetables and fruits should be the number one goal of our society and government."
I can already hear your fellow Fox News fans screaming about Obama ramming brussels sprouts down their throats. It's a fetish with them.
4
What a lot of assumptions you make. I am a high school teacher by choice and yes, I chose to work in order to live a middle class lifestyle. During my career, I made more than my husband for many years ( which is not a whole heck of a lot if you know what teachers make) . Fox News? I read the NYT, watch CSPAN , and listen to NPR for the most part. And yes, in case you haven't noticed, by and large, the poor tend to be less educated and most likely to eat junk. So, what are your suggestions as relates to the article?
3
This article really hit home and Thank you to Michael Moore for taking this on. Most of the school lunches at my own children’s New York City Public elementary school end up in the garbage. If you’ve ever witnessed a New York City Public School Lunch it’s amazing the kids make it in and out without injury – it’s organized chaos. The children have very little time to eat and they don’t like the food they are being served. -- What isn’t mentioned is the people trying to improve it. In New York City we have The Office of School Wellness Programs. With their support I started a School Wellness Council at my own children’s school and last year attended an end of year event where they served us a school lunch on par with Dean and Deluca and Balducci’s. It is possible and it is being done, but our school administration doesn’t have the manpower to do it alone. Our schools are operating on shoestring budgets and bogged down with bureaucratic paperwork and test prep. Maybe a subject for another film…
5
The article suggests that our federal and state governments provide about $4 per meal, but that $2.50 or so is consumed by "overhead, including electricity, accounting and trash collection." In a typical school with 800 students, that means $2,000 per day for overhead. Figure $50 per day for electricity, $40 for bookkeeping, and $60 to pick up 30 trash bags of vegetable sacks, butcher paper, and leftovers. It sounds like the rest is wasted on discarding packaging for ready-to-cook meals and on inefficient administration, rather than being spent on good ingredients.
Anyone can be trained to cook, and there are hundreds of students graduating from trade and culinary schools who could be hired to work in schools for a few years if they had something interesting to do. I'm sure French schools are providing a nice, healthy plate of broiled fish, steamed or sauteed vegetables, and fresh salad -- nothing requiring Cordon Bleu credentials.
And school systems could certainly ban junk food from vending machines and discourage off-campus meals, especially if they provided a nutritious, appealing alternative.
It sounds like the problem isn't money, or facilities, or bad eating habits. It's the lack of effective and imaginative management. Rather than accepting the status quo, or expressing "frustration" at comparisons with Europe, school systems should get up, sharpen their pencils and their knives, and get back in the kitchen.
Anyone can be trained to cook, and there are hundreds of students graduating from trade and culinary schools who could be hired to work in schools for a few years if they had something interesting to do. I'm sure French schools are providing a nice, healthy plate of broiled fish, steamed or sauteed vegetables, and fresh salad -- nothing requiring Cordon Bleu credentials.
And school systems could certainly ban junk food from vending machines and discourage off-campus meals, especially if they provided a nutritious, appealing alternative.
It sounds like the problem isn't money, or facilities, or bad eating habits. It's the lack of effective and imaginative management. Rather than accepting the status quo, or expressing "frustration" at comparisons with Europe, school systems should get up, sharpen their pencils and their knives, and get back in the kitchen.
3
There is a food movement that looks at the "Real-Cost" of food. What is the cost to US society to feed children with this much disregard for their health and well-being? It we are what we eat, then what does this say about our priorities?
3
The reason France has better school meals than the US is simply because French cooking and French Food tastes a lot better than the average American meal unless you go to an expensive Restaurant.
One of my pet peeves is bread - US break you buy is terrible, more usable as a sponge than bread. American break can't compare with French bread. SUre some supermarkets are now selling baguettes in the Bakery department but look at the shelves and what do you see - spongy Bread from American bakeries.
Even potatoes are poorly cooked by American - who normally serve Mash of boiled potatoes. What about Potatoes Duchess. We get meat - but never those wonderful sauces that the French serve. The French simply no how to make a good tasting meal and AMerican don't. Also the French usually buy fresh produce at open air markets made possible by French Agriculture. Most Americans buy frozen vegetables.
French cheese is delicious and a standard serving with desert - which often is fresh fruit and cheese. We serve ice cream -
We eat on the run, the French take time over their meals - world of difference and a very different culture when it comes to eating.
One of my pet peeves is bread - US break you buy is terrible, more usable as a sponge than bread. American break can't compare with French bread. SUre some supermarkets are now selling baguettes in the Bakery department but look at the shelves and what do you see - spongy Bread from American bakeries.
Even potatoes are poorly cooked by American - who normally serve Mash of boiled potatoes. What about Potatoes Duchess. We get meat - but never those wonderful sauces that the French serve. The French simply no how to make a good tasting meal and AMerican don't. Also the French usually buy fresh produce at open air markets made possible by French Agriculture. Most Americans buy frozen vegetables.
French cheese is delicious and a standard serving with desert - which often is fresh fruit and cheese. We serve ice cream -
We eat on the run, the French take time over their meals - world of difference and a very different culture when it comes to eating.
I suspect if we look at the money trail we will find similarities to other U.S. institutions, like health care. The administrative costs are so high that money is lacking for what is being administered, in this case food for school kids.
2
Thank you for pointing out the reasons why American schools cannot compete in the World Lunch Games. It boils down to money, of course. Like several other commentators I have read, I too teach in a public school. Nearly 30 years, so I've seen plenty of lunches. And I teach in a very affluent school district. We actually have Sushi Tuesdays at my Middle School, which kids tell me they love. Of course, that is prepared by an outside vendor and delivered fresh.
I am old enough to remember "A" lunches in school in the 1970's and 80's, before pizza and chicken nuggets took over. Sliced turkey and gravy over mashed potatoes, carrots and fruit crisp, or beef stew, etc. They were actual meals served on trays. Doesn't anyone do that anymore? I see my students getting everything a la carte, and it's gross. I have $ and a car and I go out and buy something from a local deli or a salad every day. I wish the kids had the same option.
I am old enough to remember "A" lunches in school in the 1970's and 80's, before pizza and chicken nuggets took over. Sliced turkey and gravy over mashed potatoes, carrots and fruit crisp, or beef stew, etc. They were actual meals served on trays. Doesn't anyone do that anymore? I see my students getting everything a la carte, and it's gross. I have $ and a car and I go out and buy something from a local deli or a salad every day. I wish the kids had the same option.
1
"Apprendre à goûter" - Brava Bettina
No such thing as children's food in my family. We ate what the adults ate.
Other mammals learn by imitation; can we ?
Instead of posturing & strutting around calling ourselves "exceptional", do we, perhaps, have something to learn from other countries ?
And, speaking of family-style, the masters/teachers sat at the head of the table at lunch (yes, "independent").
No such thing as children's food in my family. We ate what the adults ate.
Other mammals learn by imitation; can we ?
Instead of posturing & strutting around calling ourselves "exceptional", do we, perhaps, have something to learn from other countries ?
And, speaking of family-style, the masters/teachers sat at the head of the table at lunch (yes, "independent").
1
Years ago, when I taught in a small high school in Georgia, a student startled me by speaking out on the school lunch program; his main idea being that schools should not be providing lunch to school children. I realized he had been listening to adults, whether parents or townspeople, and had accepted their complaints wholesale. I was horrified: my lesson pushed aside, I gave quite a sermon: 1, that they were the future of the country and we adults owed them to provide nutrition as well as education; 2, that local, regional, and national governments wasted far more dollars each year than was spent on their lunches; and 3, that as their teacher, I was horrified at the idea of any of them being hungry while trying to lean something in my classroom. I also commented on what I thought of mean-spirited adults who would deny them a simple meal. They knew I was angry, but that I was not angry with them. We got along splendidly after that. It still makes me furious that adults in the community begrudged the children in the community what was a cheap lunch. With this attitude in the public, no wonder our school lunches aren't very good, in spite of the heroic efforts of the lunchroom cooks!
When I was in elementary and middle school in the early 2000s, I was fortunate enough to attend a private school in Louisiana. We did not have a cafeteria but instead had a program called "Lagniappe Lunch," where every quarter, 3 days a week, we could sign up to receive lunch delivered. Our options? 1 or 2 personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut; Whoppers, double cheeseburgers, regular burgers from Burger King; 3-pc or 4-pc meals from KFC or Popeyes; fried lo-mein and orange chicken from Chinese restaurants.
Today? Those meals include options from Panda Express, Boston Market, Subway, Roly Poly. Healthier than KFC? Maybe - but options include Philly cheesesteaks; curly fries; 70g-sugar smoothies; pizza; and hot dogs.
I'm shocked, looking back, and still shocked the program continues. Research points that the more affluent, "whiter" Americans are better equipped to avoid obesity trends, but this certainly was not the case in my privileged primary education (tuition back then? upwards of $5500/year). I remember whispers between middle school girls: "this isn't healthy!" But we ate it anyway. Our parents insisted on it; it was too convenient to pass up.
Nearly every component of the school system - nutrition included - is "out of sight, out of mind" for politicians...and now parents follow that mantra. And they are the ones that should be championing furiously otherwise.
Today? Those meals include options from Panda Express, Boston Market, Subway, Roly Poly. Healthier than KFC? Maybe - but options include Philly cheesesteaks; curly fries; 70g-sugar smoothies; pizza; and hot dogs.
I'm shocked, looking back, and still shocked the program continues. Research points that the more affluent, "whiter" Americans are better equipped to avoid obesity trends, but this certainly was not the case in my privileged primary education (tuition back then? upwards of $5500/year). I remember whispers between middle school girls: "this isn't healthy!" But we ate it anyway. Our parents insisted on it; it was too convenient to pass up.
Nearly every component of the school system - nutrition included - is "out of sight, out of mind" for politicians...and now parents follow that mantra. And they are the ones that should be championing furiously otherwise.
1
I read this while eating a pear! Not all American children like fast food....personally I'd rather eat broccoli. But I am an outlier; most kids do. However in my school we are almost universally disdainful of the lunches our school provides. On the other hand we visit the vending machine religiously. I am just pointing out that we spend a lot of money so that kids can skip lunch and eat from the vending machine. It all depends on where we put the money. We obviously can't withdraw the it, because as Mr. Rogers said, some children rely on it to get food. A parent may also not have the time, money or energy to make a kid's lunch. It is so complicated!
Cooking offers many valuable lessons; Math, Science, Reading. If Lunch were a subject where children prepared and ate their own meals, the costs could be rolled into education budget and children could bring home better eating habits.
1
The real problem with lunch is that parents in this country have somehow come to the conclusion that there is a difference between adult food and kids' "food."
A dear friend rented a timeshare near me for a week. At the end of the week, he offered me the remains of whatever food they'd bought that wouldn't survive the long drive home in the summer. Among the items was a bag of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.
Now, I've never eaten a Chicken McNugget in my life, so although it wasn't something I'd ever think of buying, I thought I'd try them so they wouldn't go to waste.
Oh. My. Gawd. I took one bite of a chemical-flavored, spongy dinosaur, spat it out, and threw the rest in the trash. How can people feed this stuff to their kids? It was absolutely disgusting.
Spare me the cries of, "we don't have time!" Aren't you the same parents who think the world revolves around your kids, and constantly remind the child-free that "there's nothing more important in the world than being a mom/dad?"
Prove it. Stop feeding your kids garbage.
A dear friend rented a timeshare near me for a week. At the end of the week, he offered me the remains of whatever food they'd bought that wouldn't survive the long drive home in the summer. Among the items was a bag of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.
Now, I've never eaten a Chicken McNugget in my life, so although it wasn't something I'd ever think of buying, I thought I'd try them so they wouldn't go to waste.
Oh. My. Gawd. I took one bite of a chemical-flavored, spongy dinosaur, spat it out, and threw the rest in the trash. How can people feed this stuff to their kids? It was absolutely disgusting.
Spare me the cries of, "we don't have time!" Aren't you the same parents who think the world revolves around your kids, and constantly remind the child-free that "there's nothing more important in the world than being a mom/dad?"
Prove it. Stop feeding your kids garbage.
10
American Exceptionalism at its best... industrial food companies killing our school kids, but keeping shareholders happy
My daughter (now 26) went to a wonderful pre-school where vegetarian food was served. I remember asking the cook what the reaction of the pre-scholars was, as the food was likely to be unfamiliar; she smiled serenely and replied, "Hungry children will eat." And she was right. Parents were encouraged to share in a meal or two, so I saw first hand the rules in action: take one small serving of each item (food was served family style at tables with little, tiny chairs), then eat as much of whatever you wanted. What I saw was that most of the kids ate fairly balanced meals. Of course, the pre-school was more like the schools in France: no vending machines or sales of junk, and of course the little ones couldn't wander off campus. Plus, the pre-school was small. But the food was great, and I still use some of the recipes the cook kindly shared with me.
1
I thought they reflected the effects of farm subsidies and the gluts they produce, which must be eaten down by America's schoolchildren.
4
There is no reason to cook the food in the schools. Meals could be prepared in the kitchens of restaurants (during the early morning hours when they are underutilized) and finished off in the school kitchens. This is how excellent meals are prepared for first class service in airlines, Net Jets, etc.
More important, though, is teaching kids how to appreciate delicious (first and foremost... then, healthy) food. For this, we could use the French approach. Appreciation of good (and healthy) food would be even more important than the lunches the kids are served, since it will remain with them for a lifetime.
More important, though, is teaching kids how to appreciate delicious (first and foremost... then, healthy) food. For this, we could use the French approach. Appreciation of good (and healthy) food would be even more important than the lunches the kids are served, since it will remain with them for a lifetime.
Only in the US people still consider a PB&J sandwich a nutritious and/or healthy food. Look it up! There are many better options. Use your imagination.
From Wikipedia: "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich made from white bread, with two tablespoons each of peanut butter and grape jelly, provides 27% of a person's Recommended Daily Intake of fat and 22% of their calories.[1]
While roughly 50% of the calories are from fat, most of them come from monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fats, which have been linked positively with heart health."
From Wikipedia: "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich made from white bread, with two tablespoons each of peanut butter and grape jelly, provides 27% of a person's Recommended Daily Intake of fat and 22% of their calories.[1]
While roughly 50% of the calories are from fat, most of them come from monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fats, which have been linked positively with heart health."
1
I don't understand why we are paying for lunches at all. I remember taking a bag lunch all of my school career in Michigan, Maryland, California, Washington and Greece. I also remember taking a bag lunch most of my work career. For one thing, most of my work places didn't have cafeterias. Cellphones, iPads, iPods, school lunches are just symptoms of a pampered society.
This issue gets way too much attention and is more reflective of the neuroses of the parents. It's one meal. Pizza, sandwiches, rice bowls-they're all good
1
Food choices aside, have you seen HOW they eat?
I was shocked visiting the school cafeteria. Our elementary age kids have less than 30 minutes for lunch, more like 10-15 after they're marched in, gotten their food and seated. They eat like a combination of pigs and sharks, and end up tossing much of their food because they run out of time horsing around instead of wolfing down their food. I watched one boy pitch his entire brown bag lunch without even opening.
Now I know why my kids eat like animals at our table.
I was shocked visiting the school cafeteria. Our elementary age kids have less than 30 minutes for lunch, more like 10-15 after they're marched in, gotten their food and seated. They eat like a combination of pigs and sharks, and end up tossing much of their food because they run out of time horsing around instead of wolfing down their food. I watched one boy pitch his entire brown bag lunch without even opening.
Now I know why my kids eat like animals at our table.
9
They don't eat like that at my table.
And if they try, they're sent to their rooms for a "think about it" session.
Discipline is not something that is only imposed in a school setting.
And if they try, they're sent to their rooms for a "think about it" session.
Discipline is not something that is only imposed in a school setting.
4
'Now I know why my kids eat like animals at our table.'
Have to agree with The Owl there. If they eat like animals at your table, it's because you let them. Then they import the behavior to school.
Incidentally, I have 50 years of experience with cats. All of them have eaten with the utmost daintiness and fastidious manners, and thoroughly wash their faces and paws afterward. Nor will they eat just anything.
Have to agree with The Owl there. If they eat like animals at your table, it's because you let them. Then they import the behavior to school.
Incidentally, I have 50 years of experience with cats. All of them have eaten with the utmost daintiness and fastidious manners, and thoroughly wash their faces and paws afterward. Nor will they eat just anything.
1
FOOD LUNCH PROGRAMS PRIMARILY ARE PART OF FARM SUPPORT PROGRAMS. Lots of quick to prepare (dried soups e.g. the Lipton split pea and tomato) are no longer produced. Tuna comes canned. Mayo has a long shelf life. The fruits "served" in schools serve better as projectiles -- hard, inedible, never ripen. In pre-K kids are served meals two hours apart --and if you let the kids take the extra milk home in a knapsack you are breaking the law. (best to pour it down the drain!!)
Here's a simpler solution.YOU HAVE A KID. YOU LEARN TO MAKE LUNCH.If the teacher has to confiscate the sugar water and donut that you on food stamps have packed for lunch, parent gets called into office . School provides a simple sandwich __ PBJ, ham and cheese or tuna salad.
I ate school lunch w/ my students daily in Chicago in 1967-- my fave. a serving of mashed potatoes and a half grilled cheese sandwich. (Add peas and carrots, and unsweetened applesauce)_ and you are DONE.
I am having significant problems buying such standards as ground beef,fish products, unless in fancy store, prefer not to buy chicken pieces (bacteria from handling, heat) or rotisserie chicken here (too salty, delish in Italy w/ rosemary). And believe it or not food in American hospitals is of terrible quality -- worse than school lunches-- lost 10 lbs in hospital PT- meat was spoiled, lettuce was weird, bread moldy.
Put a fast food chain in charge of caf food. It would improve.
Here's a simpler solution.YOU HAVE A KID. YOU LEARN TO MAKE LUNCH.If the teacher has to confiscate the sugar water and donut that you on food stamps have packed for lunch, parent gets called into office . School provides a simple sandwich __ PBJ, ham and cheese or tuna salad.
I ate school lunch w/ my students daily in Chicago in 1967-- my fave. a serving of mashed potatoes and a half grilled cheese sandwich. (Add peas and carrots, and unsweetened applesauce)_ and you are DONE.
I am having significant problems buying such standards as ground beef,fish products, unless in fancy store, prefer not to buy chicken pieces (bacteria from handling, heat) or rotisserie chicken here (too salty, delish in Italy w/ rosemary). And believe it or not food in American hospitals is of terrible quality -- worse than school lunches-- lost 10 lbs in hospital PT- meat was spoiled, lettuce was weird, bread moldy.
Put a fast food chain in charge of caf food. It would improve.
4
"YOU HAVE A KID. YOU LEARN TO MAKE LUNCH.If the teacher has to confiscate the sugar water and donut that you on food stamps have packed for lunch, parent gets called into office ."
What's up with the gratuitous snark about families who use food stamps? Why the assumption that "they" (and presumably no one else) feed their kids donuts and sugar water? I found most of your post hard to understand, but your prejudices came through loud and clear.
What's up with the gratuitous snark about families who use food stamps? Why the assumption that "they" (and presumably no one else) feed their kids donuts and sugar water? I found most of your post hard to understand, but your prejudices came through loud and clear.
1
The real problem with the article is that it relies on a single village in France as a representative for school food quality in countries other than the US. In comparison works, we can glorify or denigrate anything, simply by choosing the appropriate references.
2
Really, that's the "real" problem with this article??? Please, educate yourself and find out what children are eating in Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Austria, UK, Swiss, etc..... you will find out that in every one of these countries children have a healthy and nutritious meal option and not junk food in schools. How about caring about the "real" issue which is the health and well-being of millions of American children and especially the poor American children who rely on that one school lunch meal as their main meal for the day. Get real!
1
Were readers supposed to assume that the lunch in the Normandy Village is similar to lunches in the countries you cited? Because you are willing to apply the findings in one case to all cases, does not necessarily mean others will be similarly robust in extrapolating.
Rather than making this an issue about Europe vs. the U.S., let's just focus on American schools. Bring back home ec for 6th grade and beyond. Teach the kids how to cook their own lunches. Having cooking skills was mandatory when I was growing up. It is also wear you learn about health and nutrition.
8
Home Ec for all, not just for girls.
Eating, and the preparing of good food, is not a subject that needs discrimination by sex.
Eating, and the preparing of good food, is not a subject that needs discrimination by sex.
4
When I grew up, Home Ec and Shop Class were mandatory for everybody. No gender discrimination. Yes, even back in the 80s. I learned how to cook, sew, use a screw driver, a hammer, a wrench.
I think it should be the civic duty of a parent/guardian of every child in public school to volunteer at least one day a year, in the library, cafeteria, classroom, etc. Let them eat a school lunch and experience what its like to gulp down nasty food in the 20-25 minutes allotted for lunch. As great an issue as the silly excuse for a satisfying meal forced on our kids, is the push and shove rush required to wade through the cafeteria line, ingurgitate a tray of steam-table swill and make it back to class all in less than a half hour, precious little time to unwind, digest, socialize. It''s not lunch TIME, it's just file in, swallow, rush back to class.
14
While I agree with most of this, I also know that so much of how kids eat has to do with family traditions in food, before they even get to school. If you are unlucky enough to be born in a family that can't afford healthy food, you are set up for "food illiteracy".
I am basically healthy so far--at 55--and I think some of that is because of the nexus of Italian/Greek background, farm background, and thus always having a garden, and 1970s hippie whole food movement. There are things I could do better, but I was lucky enough that food was always a conversation at our house and not just a necessity, and a failing necessity at that.
I am basically healthy so far--at 55--and I think some of that is because of the nexus of Italian/Greek background, farm background, and thus always having a garden, and 1970s hippie whole food movement. There are things I could do better, but I was lucky enough that food was always a conversation at our house and not just a necessity, and a failing necessity at that.
4
Back in the day, we all brought our own lunch to school. Clearly, parents cannot rely on the schools to provide their children with optimal nutrition.
3
This is the second comment I've read like this. I know it’s said with well meaning intentions but the realty for many children at least here in New York City is that this is where they may get their only real meal for the day. These kids – some who might be living in a shelter do not have a mother and father that can pack them a healthy or any lunch for school.
10
Our grandsons attended school in Finland. The government provides a hot lunch for all children--split pea soup, porridge, sausage gravy, etc.--foods that were strange to the boys. No one packs a lunch. They served themselves and the expectation was you eat everything you take. Very little, if any, food was wasted. The silverware was metal, the plates were "china" and glasses were glass. Upon returning to the U.S. both boys are appalled at the lunches and especially at all the throw away utensils, plates, etc. They learned to eat all the "strange" food they were served at school and, thus, have broadened their taste buds.
90
The thought of all those petro-bases plastic utensils going into the waste stream every day makes me ill. A shameful example for the next generation.
Honestly we humans deserve the extinction that is probably not too far down the line. Too bad about all the beautiful species we are taking down with us.
Honestly we humans deserve the extinction that is probably not too far down the line. Too bad about all the beautiful species we are taking down with us.
4
"{[S]plit pea soup, porridge, sausage gravy" are only strange in households that have yet to learn that there are foods other than pizza and cheeseburgers.
But that's a very different topic. Equally important, but different nonetheless.
But that's a very different topic. Equally important, but different nonetheless.
1
Your grandchildren are so fortunate to have had this opportunity to experience one of the best educational models in the world, but Finland is a country with a population of 5 million – 3 million less than NYC’s 8 million. It's easy to say if they can do why can’t we, but I think it’s much more complicated than that.
3
back when I was in elementary in the 90s I saw 1 school that had a full and functional kitchen which made meals from scratch. that Elementary is in UT, I was at for 5 years! I've seen at least half a dozen in three states and nobody else has anything anywhere near what my 1st school had. So, it's not to say that we don't want better meals, we don't even have the infrastructure at the schools to prepare these meals. Most meals are trucked in heat trays from a central location and served by "lunch ladies" or students.
1
I stayed with my children in a campground in Lorraine. In the evening when the campground restaurant opened I noticed a man picking fresh lettuce in a garden next to it. A few minutes later we were eating that same lettuce and the man was taking quiche out of the oven. The people working at the restaurant were happy and cheerful; the restaurant was popular with French and foreign campers and only had to be open a few hours. This is the result when a culture prioritizes quality of life for everyone, customers as well as cooks.
4
When I was a substitute teacher, way back in the early '70s, I went to a few schools where the food line was comparable to a commercial cafeteria. They specialized in food that got better as it sat on the steam table, chicken and rice, beef stew, baked pasta, and the like. The lunch ladies actually cooked this fare in the kitchen behind the line. There were industrial-sized mixers and things back there. It was not unusual to find home-made side-items, like soup, biscuits, and cookies. Certain schools excelled at certain dishes, depending on the crew, evincing how much scratch cooking there was. A complete lunch cost around eighty cents. I was a sub for a year and a half, and I could have written a pretty fair food review of the school cafeterias in District 7 in Philly. The biscuits at Frankford High were some of the best biscuits north of the Mason-Dixon... As the '70s progressed, cafeteria crews in schools began to disappear. I guess the cafeteria-model was unaffordable. They replaced it with foil-covered TV-dinner-like items that arrived on a truck, were wheeled to the lunchroom on hospital-like carts, and dispensed by one or two lunch ladies who dealt them like cards. The kitchen equipment stood dormant behind them... Ah, home-made peanut butter cookies; ah, humanity.
8
"... unfortunately our society is unwilling to do what it takes to truly feed them well". -- A superb, but very sad, conclusion of what lunch is and what it should be, and not only in schools.
The adulation of fast food in this country exceeds the bounds of reasonable. But the other side of the coin, listening to all the advice of dietitians makes one think that only foods made of chemicals, where chemicals replace the essential natural ingredients, is good for us.
Perhaps one should ignore all the arguments about healthy or unhealthy food and follow the human natural tendency to be panphagous or omnivorous.
The adulation of fast food in this country exceeds the bounds of reasonable. But the other side of the coin, listening to all the advice of dietitians makes one think that only foods made of chemicals, where chemicals replace the essential natural ingredients, is good for us.
Perhaps one should ignore all the arguments about healthy or unhealthy food and follow the human natural tendency to be panphagous or omnivorous.
1
All through school I took a paperbag lunch, either peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a banana, or American cheese sandwich with an apple, and a small carton of milk with a ginger snap. Filling, nutritious, inexpensive, portable, easily prepared. Why such a fuss over school-provided lunches? Go back to the brown bag.
2
My small charter school in rural Minnesota feeds 105 kids. We have invested in an industrial kitchen to serve meals cooked at school and a student kitchen to expand students' interest in learning to cook healthy foods. It has been an experiment to cook what 12-18 year olds will eat and beef stroganoff goes over better than tilapia, but, oh well...After 2 years of menu shifting for nutrition and maximum appeal, we have fine tuned the menu to include a daily fresh salad, fresh fruit, bread and entrees that include chicken bacon wraps, baked salsa chicken, loaded natchos, and pot roast(my favorite) among many delicious meals. It 's possible to pull off good menus, cook fresh foods in school, teach kids to cook what's delicious and healthy AND compost the leftovers for our school garden. Don't give up...
5
Must every dish contain meat?!
5
To distill the difference in lunches at American and French schools to money is so horribly oversimplifying. As a society, the French love and enjoy their food. Americans view food as a burden and eating as an act that slows down whatever else they're trying to do that day.
We need to change the eating habits of Americans at home and our attitude towards food. Until then, extra money spend on school lunches will be a waste as kids will just throw away their scallops and head to the bodega for a hotdog, chips and soda.
We need to change the eating habits of Americans at home and our attitude towards food. Until then, extra money spend on school lunches will be a waste as kids will just throw away their scallops and head to the bodega for a hotdog, chips and soda.
2
'Americans view food as a burden and eating as an act that slows down whatever else they're trying to do that day.'
Not so much a burden, I would say, as not a separate activity. Students, like adults, eat absently while doing something else. The school lunch is preparation for the day when they will be expected to cram a sandwich down in their cubicles or inhale a frozen lunch prepared in the office microwave. People eat standing up, walking around. We have faux foods like 'Lunchables' that look like they're made of Play-Doh, and 'Go-gurt' which is promoted to kids as something you can eat while skateboarding, f'r chrissake.
The notion of eating as something you actually pay attention to is not an American notion. It's Coneheads nutrition - 'consume mass quantities'.
Not so much a burden, I would say, as not a separate activity. Students, like adults, eat absently while doing something else. The school lunch is preparation for the day when they will be expected to cram a sandwich down in their cubicles or inhale a frozen lunch prepared in the office microwave. People eat standing up, walking around. We have faux foods like 'Lunchables' that look like they're made of Play-Doh, and 'Go-gurt' which is promoted to kids as something you can eat while skateboarding, f'r chrissake.
The notion of eating as something you actually pay attention to is not an American notion. It's Coneheads nutrition - 'consume mass quantities'.
1
Combine "the real problem with lunch" with a 15 minute recess (at least here in Tennessee) for elementary schoolers who are confined five days a week from 8am till 3pm and you are imposing an environment that makes it much more difficult in which to learn. Kids are just trying to control their naturally active selves, there's no room for the joy of learning.
5
"School meals in other countries fascinate us because they reflect a society’s true food culture, as well as its regard for its children."
There, that's it! Our school meals DO reflect the American true food culture. That's the problem in a nutshell.
There, that's it! Our school meals DO reflect the American true food culture. That's the problem in a nutshell.
164
Zero in on bad school lunches, by all means. It's a crime that millions of children are fed poorly in a country with more than enough good food to around. But serving slop to the tots can't be fixed in isolation from all the other problems which Americans have to cope with. If we can tolerate the poverty of the families whose children come ill prepared to succeed in school, we can surely tolerate giving them garbage to eat. If we can tolerate poor health outcomes because people don't have the means to be healthy, (knowledge, opportunity, community facilities, etc.) we can tolerate poisoning children with lead in Flint, Michigan. And so on down the line.
The really big problem is that the country is being run for the benefit of that famous top 1% (and just to be inclusive, the top 10% as well). Nobody in the bottom half is going to get a plate of ripe pear, blue cheese and a slice of lamb, either in school or at home. They'll be lucky to get greasy fried chicken bits and pieces with an extra large soft drink.
The really big problem is that the country is being run for the benefit of that famous top 1% (and just to be inclusive, the top 10% as well). Nobody in the bottom half is going to get a plate of ripe pear, blue cheese and a slice of lamb, either in school or at home. They'll be lucky to get greasy fried chicken bits and pieces with an extra large soft drink.
5
I pay a hefty tuition for my three children to attend a nearby independent private school. I pay approx. $7 for each chili's daily lunch served at school. The menu includes a hot entree, a panini of the day, PB&J sandwiches, a hot soup selection, a fresh salad bar, and whole fruits (bananas, apples, oranges). I count my blessings EVERY day knowing they have healthy options. I would not be able to provide three packed lunches everyday with the same variety. My hearts breaks for all the children that do not have these options and are essentially force fed garbage that is slowing killing them.
39
We serve the exact same menu in my public school with even more options in the secondary schools than your lofty private school and we don't force feed anyone garbage and we only get $2.75/$3.25 per lunch, it looks like your getting ripped off!
2
I cannot agree with your assertion that "But the problem with America’s school food has little to do with the schools themselves." The problem does not lie exclusively with the schools, but the schools bear a substantial portion of the responsibility. Schools are loathe to disclose how much they receive in subsidies and how little the children actually receive.
As you point out in the paragraph below your assertion, the schools receive federal and state funds to subsidize school lunches. Here, in Rochester, Minnesota, schools receive a federal subsidy of a bit more than $3.00 and a state subsidy of $0.52 for each free lunch served. Middle school students pay $2.35 per lunch and high school students $2.45. The schools receive about $0.30 per paid lunch.
Do the arithmetic. The state and federal subsidy for a free lunch is about $3.52 and yet a paid lunch costs $2.45. The school district website does not disclose the amount paid for the food on a student's plate. Its true that I might be able to estimate that number by combing through the district's budget.
I would hope that a manager in the school district keeps track of the costs and manages the lunchroom budget effectively because that manager is not managing transparently.
As you point out in the paragraph below your assertion, the schools receive federal and state funds to subsidize school lunches. Here, in Rochester, Minnesota, schools receive a federal subsidy of a bit more than $3.00 and a state subsidy of $0.52 for each free lunch served. Middle school students pay $2.35 per lunch and high school students $2.45. The schools receive about $0.30 per paid lunch.
Do the arithmetic. The state and federal subsidy for a free lunch is about $3.52 and yet a paid lunch costs $2.45. The school district website does not disclose the amount paid for the food on a student's plate. Its true that I might be able to estimate that number by combing through the district's budget.
I would hope that a manager in the school district keeps track of the costs and manages the lunchroom budget effectively because that manager is not managing transparently.
4
Great info. The NYT needs to do an investigative piece on this.
1
Nowhere is mentioned the lobbying pressure by large fast-food companies and agri-business forces who value the lucrative school lunch contracts. It is not a coincidence that the tomato sauce on a pizza counts as a vegetable serving.In our system, money buys everything, be it a Congressman or a school lunch contract.
7
Our school lunches reflect our priorities in this society.
4
which is another way to say that it doesn't prioritize food, children, nutrition. Big food conglomerates step in to prioritize for us, all to our detriment.
1
It's not even just the food. My daughter gets 25 minutes to eat. It takes 10 minutes to get through the lunch line, leaving her with 15 minutes to eat her food. She doesn't get to finish her food and is ravenous when she gets home. We've started sending lunch in so she can actually eat, and maybe have the energy to get through her school day.
5
I am American and I have lived in France for over 5 years now. I have an 8 year old son who has attended schools in Paris, Le Pecq, Menton and now Marseille. In France virtually all public school lunches are provided by SODEXO which is essentially a high-volume industrial-grade kitchen that caters to corporate cafeterias and public schools. The food is horrible-unappetizing, full of mystery meat, preservatives, stale bread (yes the bread in France is not what it used to be that has been industrialized as well and the old fashioned boulangeries are few and far between) and even maggots have been found in some SODEXO kitchens where the food ultimately wound up on the plates at a public school in France. My son, including his friends, will do anything NOT to eat lunch at school where the food is heated up by unpleasant, rude women in pink uniforms (certainly no skills in cooking required) who are just trying to step out for their next cigarette break. Most families serve up the ground beef-steak hachee with a side of mashed potato (most like the mousseline dehydrated type.) Or perhaps a hot dog or slice of processed ham and french fries. At dinner parties I cringe when I see what is on the menu for kids....once at a well-to-do family it was potato chips and ham. I looked on in bewilderment as the adults sat down to a 4 course meal at a separate table.
4
It's a mistake to think our schools exist to raise healthy, intelligent, well-informed citizens. They exist to machine pegs to fit into the holes in corporate boards, and widgets to support those boards. Corporate capitalism in its terminal stages has made America a failing state.
2
I am surprised each time I read an article that paints a picture of France's nutrition being superior. Since the 1990's things have really taken a change for the worst and many restaurants have been converted to "snack stands" which sell poor quality sandwiches, mystery meat, packaged salads, chips, etc. Anyone can open a restaurant and many are taking advantage by trying to offer quantity over quality and people here are only getting fatter. I will definitely have to watch Michael Moore's next film but as someone who lives in France I can say that I am speaking from experience and the majority of nutrition I see here doesn't exactly give me....bon appetit.
2
"But the problem with America’s school food has little to do with the schools themselves."
Few if any of America's education problems have anything to do with the schools or the teachers. That doesn't stop us from affixing blame there.
Few if any of America's education problems have anything to do with the schools or the teachers. That doesn't stop us from affixing blame there.
The difference between France & the U.S. is that the government of France is run to benefit humans, while the government of the U.S. is run to benefit capital. Viva la difference!
8
Agreed. Something must change about the food served to our children. And while we are at it, how good it would be if they also had enough time to eat. By the time they get their food, most kids have about 15 minutes (max) to shovel it down before having to leave the lunchroom.
4
Hire lunch ladies, give them control over what they prepare and I guarantee that school lunches would improve dramatically. Frozen food lobbyists were key in objecting to improved menus instituted by
Michelle Obama.
Michelle Obama.
1
Missing from this conversation is the role of free and reduced lunches. Many children in our rural district come from homes where there is little money for or interest in packing healthy lunches. The school teachers and principals will tell you that the best thing they can do for these children is to have them arrive early at school for breakfast, provide them lunch, and keep them in after school programs until 5 or 6 pm. There is no guarantee that the children will receive much to eat at home. Many of these children are also sent home with food in their backpacks on Friday so they have some food for the weekends. The primary concern here is not that the children eat a healthy lunch - it is that the children have food to eat. These children cannot be educated and break the chain of poverty if they are too hungry to learn.
162
Hear! Hear! And thanks for making the point.
1
"there is little money for or interest in packing healthy lunches."
With SNAP, it is not lack of being able to afford decent food for anyone. It is lack of interest, lack of knowledge about nutrition and good food, and lack of knowing how to cook anything beyond microwaving chicken nuggets.
With SNAP, it is not lack of being able to afford decent food for anyone. It is lack of interest, lack of knowledge about nutrition and good food, and lack of knowing how to cook anything beyond microwaving chicken nuggets.
2
I'm not sure why the author led with the Michael Moore scene and interpreted it as an affront to her mission. The author should have used the scene to make her point instead of pushing away a possible ally.
I went to public school. The food was horrendous. I usually brought my lunch because I had a nice, loving, middle class mother who could help make that happen. The kids with more troubled home lives ate what they were served. If you haven't noticed, as adults we reflect our eating habits from childhood.
Is it a Cheeto-Lay™ conspiracy? I don't know. But it certainly plays into the Cheeto-Lay™ profit sweet-n-salty spot. Chicken… egg. Doesn't really matter at this point. We are training our children to be sick adults. We are totally abandoning our cultural heritage by allowing fast food to replace regional dishes. We are short-changing our children by putting our priorities on weapons and hedge fund tax deductions.
Family values are hardly mentioned any more. They wrung that vote-getting line dry. Anybody with 2 working synapses knows that "Family Values" is code for "You're on your own sucker."
I went to public school. The food was horrendous. I usually brought my lunch because I had a nice, loving, middle class mother who could help make that happen. The kids with more troubled home lives ate what they were served. If you haven't noticed, as adults we reflect our eating habits from childhood.
Is it a Cheeto-Lay™ conspiracy? I don't know. But it certainly plays into the Cheeto-Lay™ profit sweet-n-salty spot. Chicken… egg. Doesn't really matter at this point. We are training our children to be sick adults. We are totally abandoning our cultural heritage by allowing fast food to replace regional dishes. We are short-changing our children by putting our priorities on weapons and hedge fund tax deductions.
Family values are hardly mentioned any more. They wrung that vote-getting line dry. Anybody with 2 working synapses knows that "Family Values" is code for "You're on your own sucker."
3
Kids nowadays are not trained to eat well. They think 'chicken nuggets, fries and a soda' is a balanced meal.
Go talk to a college chef and hear the frustration.
Go talk to a college chef and hear the frustration.
2
Where to start! Our splendid Legislature recently spent considerable effort to prevent a citizen's initiative to fund fully the public schools in Mississippi from passing. And this was just to follow the law as written. That the kids could eat better at school than the majority of adults is an impossible dream. In a land of biscuits and sausage, cheese fries, nachos and cheese (we're talking "liquid cheese") it is not surprising that veggies, fruits and salads end up in the dumpster. It finally becomes any calories are better than none.
1
If we can provide more healthy foods at a subsidized cost, as we do for for the politicians and mostly wealthy leaders in American society and business, then it should be no question that we do the same, or better for our children, the future citizens and leaders of this nation. Despite the many explanations, or more likely excuses, at the end of the day, we adults are failing our children and American society is compromising its future, to save a dollar or to add to the profit margin. No child should be hungry, no child should have to live outdoors, no child should have to do without clothing, education, or healthcare in the richest country in the world! When will American leaders actually lead in ensuring the health and well-being of all of our children, instead of being bought off following a dollar?
5
Americans want what Europe has without paying the taxes they do. Simple as that. we want better childcare and school lunches; well then we are going to have to pay for them. If you want to see a well run, delicious and nutritious lunch program, visit an independent school who's lunch program is run by FLIK independent schools a division of chartwells, and compass foods. A french company I believe. It ain't cheap, but it's good and nutritious with an emphasis on fresh and home cooked.
4
Michael Moore reductive? I'm shocked, SHOCKED!
Put Alice Waters in charge of creating a school lunch menu. Her experience with taste, her overall philosophy of food, her pragmatism about it, and her experience working with communities, mean she'd come up with healthful, appetizing and affordable lunch recipes for kids.
Alas, monied interests (vending machines, processed food and meat producers) want to keep things the way they are.
Alas, monied interests (vending machines, processed food and meat producers) want to keep things the way they are.
2
Scallops, lamb skewers and a cheese course? Not for me. I was born with a loathing of institutional food of all kinds. As a kid, I used to regularly sneak out of school at lunchtime and head for a little grocery store on the corner where the owner would sell you a freshly sliced salami or bologna sandwich on Jewish rye, or a hot dog on a Kaiser roll baked that morning, both smeared with yellow deli mustard, for a quarter and throw in half a kosher pickle besides. I can still taste those sandwiches now. You can make a school cafeteria a place to copy some other kid's homework or check out girls, but you cannot make it into a place to get a tasty dining experience.
4
I like salami, pickles, mushy white bread (a "Kaiser roll") or modern rye bread, which your Bubbe wouldn't recognize. Nitrites and carbs are lots of fun. I also like Black Forest cake and chocolate bars. Do I confuse that with nourishment? Should that be the diet in our school cafeterias? Don't bother. I know your answers.
I don't have kids... not but choice but I don't. I'm all for the social good. My tax bills shows that. But how much to I have to pay to raise the kids of families who have four kids. I already buy them lunch and I suppose breakfast. Now I have to buy them scallops! I don't think so.
3
You also pay for the military industrial complex, but a decent lunch is where you draw the line?
3
I think so!
1
Purportedly simple answers to food-system challenges frustrate me, because solutions are rarely simple. I really appreciate this piece because it clearly illustrates the point.
3
The unwillingness to spend on school lunches is a pattern - Congress won't spend on people - medical care, nutrition supplements, social programs - but will spend on stuff - guns, tanks and planes.
6
Great article. It raises a lot of questions. What do we value - as an individual, as a family, as a society? Is our health and our well-being merely a function of dollars?
1
Rich white children go to private schools that serve pretty good food.
Who cares about everyone else, especially the poor, non-white kids?
Certainly not anyone in the US Government or any state government.
Why is this a surprise?
Of course you should bring a healthy lunch from home, if you have one. If not, you don't count anyway. Goodbye.
Who cares about everyone else, especially the poor, non-white kids?
Certainly not anyone in the US Government or any state government.
Why is this a surprise?
Of course you should bring a healthy lunch from home, if you have one. If not, you don't count anyway. Goodbye.
3
We live in France. Our daughter attended the NYC public schools prior to our move, where she had 22 1/2 for lunch. We were invited to eat at that school one day...the chicken was actually delicious, but impossible to cut and eat given the one utensil: a plastic "spork" (which broke). We ate on styrofoam plates. When the next group came in to eat the "lunch ladies" screamed across the room for those who were still eating to pick up their plates and move to make room for the new kids. It was an incredibly loud room.
When we moved to France my daughter attended a private school for the first 3 years. There all of the meals were made at the school. In the public schools in the small city where we lived the food was made in one of several central kitchens and sent out. I cannot attest to its quality. In all schools here the lunch break is at least 90 minutes long. They are offered water to drink. They eat on ceramic plates with stainless steel cutlery and carry that food on trays that are not disposable. They are watched to make sure that they take something from each group in the food that is offered (i.e., they can't heap their plates with spaghetti and then avoid the spinach). They are also told to try everything. They eat at a leisurely pace in a quiet room, then clear their tables and go outside to play.
It is not perfect here, and there are rising levels of obesity. People do eat junk food, and the greater proportion of those who do are lower income.
When we moved to France my daughter attended a private school for the first 3 years. There all of the meals were made at the school. In the public schools in the small city where we lived the food was made in one of several central kitchens and sent out. I cannot attest to its quality. In all schools here the lunch break is at least 90 minutes long. They are offered water to drink. They eat on ceramic plates with stainless steel cutlery and carry that food on trays that are not disposable. They are watched to make sure that they take something from each group in the food that is offered (i.e., they can't heap their plates with spaghetti and then avoid the spinach). They are also told to try everything. They eat at a leisurely pace in a quiet room, then clear their tables and go outside to play.
It is not perfect here, and there are rising levels of obesity. People do eat junk food, and the greater proportion of those who do are lower income.
9
Remember the US Government campaign way back in the 1960s against throwing garbage out of car windows? The American public saw on TV screens an American Indian in full ceremonial headdress standing by the side of a highway. As cars flew past and the camera's field of view slowly tightened until only his face occupied the screen, newspaper pages and bubble gum wrappers were carried by the vehicles following wind to plaster his body, garbage splattered against his face, until in the last seconds we see, close up, a tear coursing down his wrinkled, noble face.
Isn't it the Government's responsibility to face the junk food lobby with campaigns of its own to educate parents and convince their children that eating well is not only good for all, but cool? Isn't it time for Republicans to admit (however grudgingly) that they too are Americans and that it is time for them to cooperate with Democrats in a joint effort to protect and nurture the millions of school children who are their responsibility?
A people get the government they deserve. Is it true that The Unites States of America is literally owned by the people with the most money? In America, as in so many countries in the world, the people fear the government. In France, the government fears the people . . . as it should be.
Isn't it the Government's responsibility to face the junk food lobby with campaigns of its own to educate parents and convince their children that eating well is not only good for all, but cool? Isn't it time for Republicans to admit (however grudgingly) that they too are Americans and that it is time for them to cooperate with Democrats in a joint effort to protect and nurture the millions of school children who are their responsibility?
A people get the government they deserve. Is it true that The Unites States of America is literally owned by the people with the most money? In America, as in so many countries in the world, the people fear the government. In France, the government fears the people . . . as it should be.
3
Two good points: we can do much better at feeding school children and Michael Moore distorts facts to make money.
Another contrast: time. I've had teachers tell me that their students get only 20 minutes for meals, and that for the youngest, by the time they have lined up, received their food, sat down, and stopped wriggling, the time is up. They report throwing away something like 70 percent of the food. Meanwhile, the older kids simply ignore the school food, having learned through the years that there is nothing there for them.
6
Here's a program that's working in NW Michigan: http://www.groundworkcenter.org/projects/farm-to-school/10-cents-a-meal....
And here :
http://www.groundworkcenter.org/projects/farm-to-school/farm-to-school.html
And here :
http://www.groundworkcenter.org/projects/farm-to-school/farm-to-school.html
1
I still have nightmares about the food in the grade and high schools I attended (and I was, and still am, the least fussy eater possible). Mystery meat, cold french fries, bread fish (or chicken, who knew which it was?), the pizza was completely uneatable. Bringing lunch was not much better (it was the 60's folks and food/cooking was at it nadir). It appears that there has not been much improvement over the years. Anything that improves school lunches is good. But I fear what will improve school lunches is more money and the chances of that happening is close to none.
In France, "Food Literacy" is acquired early and constantly updated - their equivalent of the "Today" show has a five minute segment each morning by a famous chef, sometimes from the studio, sometimes on site in a local open air market. The segment is about FOOD, not "diet" or "nutrition".
Even the way foods are combined is subtle yet paramount, as I learned the first time I went to the cafeteria shared by several companies in our office park outside of Paris. As I stood in line, wide-eyed at the choices, I asked for a little (or too much) of several items. As I walked from the line to a table shared by colleagues, strangers sitting at tables along my path stared and pointed at my tray, some in astonishment. I heard "Regardez!" and "C'est bizarre ça!".
I learned quickly, and probably went too far native, as by the time I left three years later, I had high uric acid (precursor to gout) from too much "Coquis Saint Jacques" and "Foie Gras".
Even the way foods are combined is subtle yet paramount, as I learned the first time I went to the cafeteria shared by several companies in our office park outside of Paris. As I stood in line, wide-eyed at the choices, I asked for a little (or too much) of several items. As I walked from the line to a table shared by colleagues, strangers sitting at tables along my path stared and pointed at my tray, some in astonishment. I heard "Regardez!" and "C'est bizarre ça!".
I learned quickly, and probably went too far native, as by the time I left three years later, I had high uric acid (precursor to gout) from too much "Coquis Saint Jacques" and "Foie Gras".
3
The solution to this problem, and to many other problems as well, is to have money available to ensure the success of the program. Unfortunately taxes has become a dirty word in this country, thanks, in large part, to the Republican party, which is still peddling trickle down, a failed economic policy. Until we as a country are willing to increase taxes on those most able to pay, and abolish all the loopholes that the rich use to shield their wealth, all our efforts and programs will always be half-baked.
1
Another difficulty occurs when school districts subcontract out their food service. Since the contractor wants to make a profit , they are ncentivized to serve the cheapest food possible—a recipe for disaster when it comes to nutrition or appetizing meals.
6
The school's 'limitations' extend beyond the cafeterias, step into any class room & see & hear for yourself...
1
I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned the time students have to eat their lunch, which is a major factor in the what is served in school cafeterias in the US. Most schools allocate 30 minutes for lunch, with 15 minutes spent eating and the other 15 minutes outside at recess. It's the rare student who will sit for the entire 30 minutes enjoying what it is they have for lunch. Essentially, what's happening in school cafeterias is that we are creating a new generation of fast food eaters.
136
I know of a newly started Montessori school that switched lunch and recess--recess first then lunch. This makes a lot of sense. If kids run around first, there is a better chance that they will enjoy a calm and healthy lunch.
1
What do their parents eat?
Children learn to prefer whatever they are served by their parents. McDonalds know this. It's why they have children's playgrounds at the store.
Children learn to prefer whatever they are served by their parents. McDonalds know this. It's why they have children's playgrounds at the store.
5
Here is a story from the world I live in. The school system already provides free breakfast and lunch to every child in the school system due to the level of poverty that exists. There is also a summer feeding program through the schools so that children will have a food program when school is out. There is a new private charity that is giving children backpacks of food on Friday to insure they have food over the weekend. All this is in addition to the SNAP benefits that are available. Parents apparently don't have any responsibilities anymore.
7
Are you aware of the poverty rate in your state? Working parents don't make a wage that can feed families adequately.
5
Don't like your kid's school lunch program, them make it yourself. DUH!
2
My children are grown; they survived school lunches mostly by refusing to eat them so I packed their lunch or gave permission for off-campus lunch. As a single working mother I would have liked to simply buy their lunches (about 85 cents daily at the time) but I knew one daughter simply would not eat at all if I tried that. One time, the pizza came with paper cooked between the cheese and the crust according to my other daughter. The food was terrible, inedible, and sad. I hope things have improved somewhat. I remember school lunches were terrible in the 1960s and at our school they were made from scratch. What is the solution? Is there a solution?
I agree with two premises of the author, good eating habits start at home and how a culture views food is important. The statistics presented for what children eat is not much different than adults (according to the linked report). Children are great imitators and if their parents aren't eating healthy, neither will the children. As to our own children, it was a sack lunch or lunch bucket just as it was in our day. The only thing we recall ever purchasing at school was milk and there were no soda or snack machines. The same is still true for our local district.
Wow! Another professional food scold. Just what we needed.
Look, Bettina, school lunches in my day (the 50s and 60s) may have been healthful but they tasted awful. They have ruined me forever for meat loaf or liver or ravioli and dozens of other things I now refuse to touch because they tasted so awful back in the day.
Why don't you spend some time and effort on ways to cook stuff that tastes good and kids like. (eyeroll).
Look, Bettina, school lunches in my day (the 50s and 60s) may have been healthful but they tasted awful. They have ruined me forever for meat loaf or liver or ravioli and dozens of other things I now refuse to touch because they tasted so awful back in the day.
Why don't you spend some time and effort on ways to cook stuff that tastes good and kids like. (eyeroll).
2
At least the school cafeterias don't smell as bad as when I was in grade school in the late '40s.
European countries do a superior job of protecting their children on many fronts other than nutrition so I am not surprised to see that they proactively limit and control the food-related messages and products to which children are exposed. I am sure this has a protective benefit as children develop their palate, food preferences and general attitudes about food. But I do not think these children are stoically eating their salads, forgoing delicious foods that may not be all that healthy by some standards. French desserts, buttery crusty breads and savory sauces appear to be something the kids delight in as part of what constitutes a meal, not something that should be withheld. In the U.S., by contrast, there seems to be a disconnect between the healthfulness of eating and the pleasure of eating that undermines American children's ability to find a balance between the two. I have children and have sat at the private school lunch table, the public school lunch table and have packed a lot of lunches. I have had some tolerable lunches in each environ and frankly, a few truly disgusting meals I couldn't finish as well (and I am an old-fashioned eat what your served/clean your plate sort of person).
3
I would also like clarification on whether overhead like electricity and trash collection are really routinely taken out of cafeteria budgets. I've never heard a discussion of basic school overhead costs being by delineated by department. After all, the dumpsters receive the library's trash, the copyroom's trash and the bathroom detritus. I am a little incredulous that school systems are dividing electricity and trash collection costs along department lines with the actuarial prowess of an accountant. But maybe they do. And speaking of accounting, I would hope Ms. Siegel could speak to the current practice of bidding out the lunch payment/accounting services to private firms such as MySchoolBucks.com/MyLunchMoney.com). Do these services save the departments money or have they become another finger in the pie of our $4-5 per lunch. If Siegel really want to talk about the money, she shouldn't shy away from digging deeper into such questions and gloss over the relationships between corporate food suppliers and the school system.
I would love to see cafeterias return to being kitchens where skilled, trained personnel create truly appetizing food and then I would like the school system to actually give the children the time to eat it. In addition to prawn envy, we might also envy the civilizing experience afforded French children as they engage in a food culture that treats them as valued participants.
I would love to see cafeterias return to being kitchens where skilled, trained personnel create truly appetizing food and then I would like the school system to actually give the children the time to eat it. In addition to prawn envy, we might also envy the civilizing experience afforded French children as they engage in a food culture that treats them as valued participants.
2
Clearly, the veil has slipped. We stupid, lazy Americans cannot seem to escape being memorized and seduced by the wealth and power of an unaccountable and incompetent elite who just cannot manage the complexity of keeping us sufficiently divided, terrorized, and at the same time quiescent while they are literally poisoning and starving us in schools that have only the vaguest concept of what an "education" is.
It's obviously too much for these "masters of the universe" to find someone to manage us while they indulge themselves in their booze cruise celebration of the way they have hijacked our democracy by ransacking our commonwealth. So their best hope is somebody like Trump, or Cruz, or Rubio? Lord knows Jeb! Is too much like them - and therefore completely not "up" for the job.
But maybe the problem is just an "angry electorate". So perhaps after they've had their fun riling us up, and the elections are all over, they can go back to manfully accumulating capital for the sake of accumulating even more capital while we fight over french fries?
It's obviously too much for these "masters of the universe" to find someone to manage us while they indulge themselves in their booze cruise celebration of the way they have hijacked our democracy by ransacking our commonwealth. So their best hope is somebody like Trump, or Cruz, or Rubio? Lord knows Jeb! Is too much like them - and therefore completely not "up" for the job.
But maybe the problem is just an "angry electorate". So perhaps after they've had their fun riling us up, and the elections are all over, they can go back to manfully accumulating capital for the sake of accumulating even more capital while we fight over french fries?
School lunches are a part of parental responsibility. What your kid eats is also part of parental responsibility. The reason kids go for pizza and soda at school is because these are what they are fed at home. And what do they get to eat at parties? Pizza. What do they get to eat on playdates? Pizza. What do they want to eat? Pizza.
3
A wonderful historical account of this phenomenon is School Lunch Politics, by Sally Gregory Kohlstedt. In the book she details how lunch programs started as moral-nutritional inductions of students that took advantage of developing food science at the turn of the 20th c.--and agricultural oversupply. Over the course of the 20th c. school lunches straddled the line as an ag. subsidy program, nutritional battleground, and welfare program. Guess which won out? The underfunded National Lunch Program in 1946 never had a chance of putting children's nutritional needs first. It got so bad that Reagan infamously declared ketchup a vegetable. The only way to serve nominally nutritious lunches and stay in the black was to privatize lunch programs, which was what happened in the 70s and 80s. Voila! I doubt France's children have had that to contend with.
Back in the mid-1940s , when I was in a public high school in Massachusetts, cafeteria meals served something called'Salisbury Steak' once a week: a hamburger, served with a brown gravy ( not on a bun), it was accompanied by mashed potato: no salad, but a valiant attempt at 'real food'. Some days my friends and I brought sandwiches: mine was almost always tuna with chopped celery and mayonaise and, indeed, that was a common choice. Both my parents worked in factories and so, too, did those of most of my friends. Mine were of North Italian background, some of theirs came from Greece or Germany or Ireland; we ate at eachother's houses, too - mostly afternoon snacks - and it was a big treat when one girl got out a carrot cake her mother had made using crisco. When in grade school, I had lunch at our 'native New Englander' neighbors'. I drank milk, and they drank tea with the meal:often 'Irish stew' ( hamburger cooked like a thick sauce and poured over toast ); we had Boston baked beans once a week and, when in season, we ate tomatoes - with sugar on them. And lots of canned peas. Fizzy drinks - like ice cream were treats for Sundays.That was the great Depression and World War II. So the question is, perhaps, in the overall tone of the post war decades and the effects of the country's new, global focus.
As has been indicated here, kids seem to be poorly fed and their eating habits contribute to that. The general record of private industry in all sectors points to the motivations of maximum profits for whatever minimum service can be tolerated by customers since that is the business of business.
But the prime question lies with the population that tolerates ill treatment of its children. If an energetic public really cared for their kids and became infuriated sufficiently to demonstrate that they would no longer tolerate their bad treatment then the government would have to respond. It seems the American people don't care.
But the prime question lies with the population that tolerates ill treatment of its children. If an energetic public really cared for their kids and became infuriated sufficiently to demonstrate that they would no longer tolerate their bad treatment then the government would have to respond. It seems the American people don't care.
7
When I substituted in Chicago schools I had to wait until I got home to eat lunch. There was nothing but chocolate milk (a real killer and certainly not on the menu at the schools I attended), pizza and chicken nuggets. These "foods" should be prohibited, not advocated. There is no reason we couldn't go back to the healthier foods that schools used to serve. They don't cost more money.
3
My dear Dr. Kegel,
You were one of the victims of the Chicagoan cuisine. To use a Prussian military expression, "it is beneath all criticism".
You were one of the victims of the Chicagoan cuisine. To use a Prussian military expression, "it is beneath all criticism".
1
There are two points in particular that the author makes in praise of the French that I reject as apparent prescriptions for school lunches in this country
One is the knock on students bringing lunches made at home. We had the absurd situation a while back where a school district confiscated a perfectly good lunch brought to school by a kid so he/she would have to eat the federally mandated school lunch that all the kids were throwing away.
My own case in point is at the college level. I could get my lunch at the school cafeteria. I don’t. I make my own sandwich at home and bring it with me. It’s good nutritionally, just as the sandwich my mother made for me when I was a kid, and the sandwich my wife made for our kids when they were growing up.
If kids can’t bring lunch from home and are throwing away the school lunch, what’s left. Not much.
The second point is the means test to decide how much a student pays for lunch. Left out by the author are the administrative costs for such tests, the inevitable cheating, the costs to ferret out such cheating, and so on. Money which ought to go to the lunches rather than to means tests.
One is the knock on students bringing lunches made at home. We had the absurd situation a while back where a school district confiscated a perfectly good lunch brought to school by a kid so he/she would have to eat the federally mandated school lunch that all the kids were throwing away.
My own case in point is at the college level. I could get my lunch at the school cafeteria. I don’t. I make my own sandwich at home and bring it with me. It’s good nutritionally, just as the sandwich my mother made for me when I was a kid, and the sandwich my wife made for our kids when they were growing up.
If kids can’t bring lunch from home and are throwing away the school lunch, what’s left. Not much.
The second point is the means test to decide how much a student pays for lunch. Left out by the author are the administrative costs for such tests, the inevitable cheating, the costs to ferret out such cheating, and so on. Money which ought to go to the lunches rather than to means tests.
In California you have to be incredibly poor to qualify for the free lunch which is not tasty but at least something in the child's stomach. Cheating? Anyone who can afford to send a lunch for their child should do so. My daughter simply would not eat if I didn't pack her lunch. They say the kids throw away food. Have you seen the food? "Fresh" produce that is wilted and brown, apples and oranges which they are not even given time to eat. The legislators who appropriate funds and make rules for school lunches should be forced to eat those lunches while in session. I'll bet there would be a lot of sneaked-in brown bags!
Here in Charlotte every child gets lunch for free regardless of family income. The paperwork for means testing was considered onerous and much of it was fabricated.
So we are subsidizing the lunches of al the children, even those who live in $400,000 houses. Granted there are few of those because the public school system has lost that entire demographic and even some below it to private schools.
So we are subsidizing the lunches of al the children, even those who live in $400,000 houses. Granted there are few of those because the public school system has lost that entire demographic and even some below it to private schools.
4
Re your point about the means test: our school district decided to abandon the means test for some schools in the district. Everyone can have free lunch. Supposedly the diatrict is saving quite a bit this way.
1
In the US, no one comments on what other people pack for their children to eat. It's considered nobody else's business. When my children attended an international school in Germany for a few years, teachers felt an obligation to inspect what children ate. One child's au pair packed nothing but a big bag of crisps, and the child's parents were notified. The au pair had simply asked the little boy what he would like for lunch.
9
Interesting contrast between Germany, France and the U.S. Teachers snooping into my child's lunch bag? I'm laughing. In the U.S. they don't have the time.
2
OMG first thru 6th grade, Miss Annie, grandmother of one of my classmates and she lived next door to the school, was the lunch lady. She made homemade biscuits and everything was cooked fresh and terrific. Then I went to 7th grade at another school and iick, cafeteria mystery meat and all. And in high school we were poisoned once, the whole school. But in private women's college, good food, although too many casseroles. Grades one thru 6 were like eating at home.
1
I actually don't understand the point of this opinion piece -- why was it written and what did we learn that is new? It begins by pointing to a Michael Moore film that contrasts the food school children eat in France with the school meals in the United States. It mentions that in Moore's film he tells the audience that French schools spend less than schools in the US. Then the writer of the piece tells us that we shouldn't make these comparisons, because hey, not fair. We don't spend enough money and kids won't eat good food anyway. Isn't that the point of comparisons? To see what is different? And didn't Michael Moore say that they spend less and eat better food? Ok I am really confused.
5
I'm pretty certain that the man who directed Sicko and asked, "who are we as a people?" with the camera trained on a woman dumped on the sidewalk outside an ER was directing his satire at our society's lack of spending priorities and not the local workers forced to make do with meager resources
8
Exactly right. I'm not sure why thus article is so defensive.
It really is a cultural thing, even as I pack my 11-year-old daughter's lunch every day because she refuses to eat the school's "disgusting" lunch. I pack her peanut butter sandwiches, turkey rolled in Vermont sharp cheddar cheese, homemade chili and chicken and rice soup in a thermos, etc. I also pack her a piece of fresh fruit every day, which she eats about 10% of the time. And, every day I ask her, "Did you eat any of your fruir?" Apparently fed up with my questioning one day recently, she replied, "Mom, you're the only one who packs me fresh fruit for lunch. Nobody else brings them in. Their moms pack them candy and snack foods (e.g, crackers, chips). Fortunately, she has not become jaded yet as to dump her fruit in the garbage in school and lie to me-- "Yes, mom, I ate the fruit." So, I take her piece of fruit, usually a pear or apple this time of year, cut it up on a plate with a piece of cheddar or gouda cheese and she eats her aftet-school snack without hesitation.
111
There's not much better than a nice, juicy, really ripe peach.
And I don't care what age you are. When you have one, you know you've had something sublime.
And I don't care what age you are. When you have one, you know you've had something sublime.
2
The fiscal issues are definitely present but the cultural ones definitely play a role as well. Having had the benefit of much travel in Europe I endeavor to bring as much as of my French cultural heritage into my own life (is it possible that it is genetically imprinted as it seems so natural to me?). For my husband who grew up with grandparents who all immigrated as children from Italy, Germany and Hungary, the tradition of family dinners and meals prepared from scratch is simply a given. We have a shared vision of how we want to live and if we had not married mid-life and we're raising children, I have no doubt that they would welcome the French style school lunch, which I would certainly lovingly a prepare, as did my own mother.
An American expat in France for over 20 years, and who has worked with schoolchildren extensively, amen to all the corrected comparisons by the author. In fact, it is practically forbidden to send a packed lunch to school in the public system here. One other factor, which I consider very important - at least in the primary and middle schools I've experienced, lunch is served "family-style", with serving dishes on the table, and proper plates and cutlery, so children are also enculturated to the social aspect of meals. Also, fast food has made massive headway here in 25 years - but the French would still faint or scream if you gave them only half an hour to eat lunch. As for cheese - well, French dinner guests even at Thanksgiving require cheese! Fair enough ... awfully good cheese here, but then again, Wisconsin cheddar's quite fine too, not to mention my native Washington state's goat cheesemakers!
98
Sorry...not really interested in a cheese made from mild of cows or goats grazing, say on West 32nd Street.
At my daughter's former school, parents volunteered to cut up fresh fruit and vegetables and serve them to the kids for lunch. Most threw them away, as did anything somewhat healthy that came with the school lunch. I think popsicles and hamburgers aren't ideal, but sadly many of the kids would go hungry before they would eat a salad. What is the school supposed to do about that?
75
I don't know what to do but I had a kid (grown now) who preferred cut up vegetables and fruits. Salad was and is her favorite thing to eat. She refused to eat the pre-processed lunches from a very young age so I packed her a lunch which contained a great deal of fresh produce. What a kid!
without other options they will eat the veggies.
Didn't Mark Pollan say "if you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're not hungry" ?
Didn't Mark Pollan say "if you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're not hungry" ?
5
Some schools are doing a lot about that. Many American kids are brought up on takeout pizza, McDonald's burgers, and KFC, with no knowledge about nutrition and good food or meals being anything other than stuff to eat while watching TV that was bought at a drive-thru or pulled from the freezer and microwaved. Schools are having kids participate in growing vegetables in school gardens and then cooking and eating the results, and teaching them about nutrition and good food in classes, etc.
This is part of the real basic problem in American education: the home and community environment.
This is part of the real basic problem in American education: the home and community environment.
1
After decades of working in a school system, it is my opinion that the public education system as a whole, not just the lunches, is all about how much money can be made.
I've seen teachers loaded with work like mules, working in packed classrooms, while highly paid administrators socialize with each other. At the next level of administration, plush building and maintenance contracts are handed to administrator's friends.
Perhaps in other countries education is all about educating children. Here, it is about making profits.
Once the student gets a tray, buys snacks, pays and sits down there is often only about twelve minutes to actually eat. Once the sale is made, little is done to provide time and ambience.
Administrators do not want to spend money for aides for cafeteria duty, so often the cafeteria is a loud screaming zoo, with hundreds of students playing and socializing, and there is no time for eating actual food, many times lunch is a package of chips. (I know this personally, as a former school nurse I would have many students arrive at the clinic with stomach aches after eating only a package of 'hot' chips for lunch).
There is no way even the most excellent teachers (and there are many out there) can educate an overpacked, badly fed classroom of students, and the obvious payback we are seeing are students graduating both obese and without marketable skills.
The entire system needs to be redone, if we value our children, and if we value our future.
I've seen teachers loaded with work like mules, working in packed classrooms, while highly paid administrators socialize with each other. At the next level of administration, plush building and maintenance contracts are handed to administrator's friends.
Perhaps in other countries education is all about educating children. Here, it is about making profits.
Once the student gets a tray, buys snacks, pays and sits down there is often only about twelve minutes to actually eat. Once the sale is made, little is done to provide time and ambience.
Administrators do not want to spend money for aides for cafeteria duty, so often the cafeteria is a loud screaming zoo, with hundreds of students playing and socializing, and there is no time for eating actual food, many times lunch is a package of chips. (I know this personally, as a former school nurse I would have many students arrive at the clinic with stomach aches after eating only a package of 'hot' chips for lunch).
There is no way even the most excellent teachers (and there are many out there) can educate an overpacked, badly fed classroom of students, and the obvious payback we are seeing are students graduating both obese and without marketable skills.
The entire system needs to be redone, if we value our children, and if we value our future.
322
Let's face it; we don't value our kids. Oh yes, we talk a good game but when it comes right down to it we could care less.
1
Building administrators may make more than teachers, but they're not what we'd call "highly paid" in any job outside of education. For managing that size of an operation anywhere else, they'd earn much more, and some of them work hard.
Of course, the farther away from the classroom you get, the more I'd agree with what you're saying. Teachers are almost all hardworking and conscientious. Building admin a mixed bag, but still close to the classroom and not too bad. Above that, you start to see problems. And at the government level, you've got both parties de-funding public schools because there are more opportunities to siphon profit from education with charters or vouchers (both of which are destructive to actual education quality, but profitable).
Of course, the farther away from the classroom you get, the more I'd agree with what you're saying. Teachers are almost all hardworking and conscientious. Building admin a mixed bag, but still close to the classroom and not too bad. Above that, you start to see problems. And at the government level, you've got both parties de-funding public schools because there are more opportunities to siphon profit from education with charters or vouchers (both of which are destructive to actual education quality, but profitable).
the teachers unions are to blame
1
While I am largely in step with the author's overall aims, and I would certainly like to see the budget increased for school lunches, I think she does her position a disservice by presenting such a simplistic description of the issue. For example, food plays an enormous role in defining and inculcating culture. The US is, proudly, a country of thousands of different cultures. Out of many, we are one, but at the same time, we strive to respect the individuality of our origins -- school lunches must, in some way, both appeal to and avoid offending Cambodian kids, Salvadoran kids, Syrian kids, Nigerian kids, and all at the same meal. Plus of course we have to accommodate, in some way, the gluten-free, the lactose-intolerant, the vegetarian, the vegan, the nut-allergic, the observant Jews, the observant Muslims, etc.
France, by contrast, views kids' lunch as a way of imparting FRENCH food-culture. Despite (relatively) recent trends in immigration, it remains a much more homogenious society than the US, and that homogeneity is reflected in lunch menus. I've seen dozens of them, and the food looks delicious, but it's all, every bit of it, unmistakably French and largely very traditionally French. There are very few nods to students' other-than-French ethnic backgrounds, and -- so far as I can tell -- no accommodations for dietary demands outside what is assumed to be the norm.
Should we use lunch to bolster a single, shared sense of identity, or to honor individual identities?
France, by contrast, views kids' lunch as a way of imparting FRENCH food-culture. Despite (relatively) recent trends in immigration, it remains a much more homogenious society than the US, and that homogeneity is reflected in lunch menus. I've seen dozens of them, and the food looks delicious, but it's all, every bit of it, unmistakably French and largely very traditionally French. There are very few nods to students' other-than-French ethnic backgrounds, and -- so far as I can tell -- no accommodations for dietary demands outside what is assumed to be the norm.
Should we use lunch to bolster a single, shared sense of identity, or to honor individual identities?
53
I would be thrilled if the US adopted a French (or Italian) food culture. The greasy, carbo-heavy, or sickeningly sweet fast food so prevalent in the US is the cause of many diseases. Gulp and run is not a food culture. Importing the Italian "slow-food" movement would benefit our society at large by encouraging people to sit together at a table and have a leisurely conversation, rather than stuffing food in as fast as possible while texting.
2
There does seem to be a middle ground between your views and those of the author. In our urban public school district, we have children who speak more than fifty languages (Spanish, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Cantonese being the majority). Certainly, students come from a wide range of cultures. But what most of them have in common is that they come from poor families with parents who have neither the time, means or ability to provide them with a nutritious meal. There is no need to pretend to cater to everyone's ethnic identity, but how about some fresh fruit, instead of sugary, packaged food? How about using lunch as a simple message to students that they are valuable human beings, not the refuse of a post-industrial society?
2
While I agree that there is a degree of cultural inculcation and a certain inflexibility to the French system, I think you exaggerate. Though few choices are offered each day, the menu is quite varied at my kids' schools. It is usually multi-course French, but some days there is North African couscous, some days Italian pastas, some days American fast food. The objection I have to AMerican school food is that it tends to be only fast food - soggy fries, hamburgers, all lowest common denominator stuff.
5
Schools should not provide or sell lunch. It should be the responsibility of the parents to pack a lunch for their child. To make a peanut butter sandwich takes all of 3 minutes and can be done the night before.
I am 100% for spending more money on education. Smaller classes. Better facilities. School trips. After school programs. Better pay for teachers. However, providing food should not be the responsibility of the school. Lunch programs don't work. They've never worked. At least not in the past 50 years.
Part of education is teaching kids (and their parents) self reliance, lunch programs should be ended.
I am 100% for spending more money on education. Smaller classes. Better facilities. School trips. After school programs. Better pay for teachers. However, providing food should not be the responsibility of the school. Lunch programs don't work. They've never worked. At least not in the past 50 years.
Part of education is teaching kids (and their parents) self reliance, lunch programs should be ended.
51
In the 1950s I went to a small grammar school that had no cafeteria. You had to bring your lunch. The school sold cartons of milk (six cents) and you could get ice cream bars one day a week. We sat outdoors at picnic tables. It was fine. We were also allowed to go home for lunch if we lived close enough and had permission. I lived about 2 blocks away and would sometimes do that. Happy days.
2
For some American children, school breakfast and lunch is the only real meal they get. There are many who live in real poverty. And frankly, some have parents that won't pack them lunches or have food for them to do so.
8
For many American children the school lunch is the only "meal" they will have that day. The reality of our country is one of extreme poverty and the disfunction that comes with it for millions of children. School cafeterias should be safe, clean spaces where students are given a healthy, yummy meal and taught etiquette. If we wanted to, we could.
3
"The top four sources of calories in the average American child’s diet are grain-based desserts, pizza, soda and sports drinks, and bread." No wonder our children are obese. Feed them good food for lunch, ban vending machines and going off-campus for lunch. Don't force them to take the food they don't want and then throw it away. You have to start somewhere.
70
I absolutely agree with you, but the obstacles to what you propose are formidable. First, a vending machine on campus comes with a contract which is profitable both for the school and the soda or snack food company. The school needs the money because, courtesy of the American idea (Thank you Reagan.) that taxes are theft.
The real disgrace is that our public schools - and most other public services, as far as I can tell - are woefully underfunded. We all suffer, but our children suffer the most.
The real disgrace is that our public schools - and most other public services, as far as I can tell - are woefully underfunded. We all suffer, but our children suffer the most.
1
banning vending machines isn't an option as long as public schools are so starved (no pun intended) for funding. schools get $ from those vending machines, and they use it for things like textbooks and desks.
There is one more aspect that Mr. Moore doesn't speak of and neither does this article and it is the most important one to discuss why our children are not eating properly—TIME.
Our kids do not have enough time to eat. They get 20 min and that includes the line, settling in, often they are late. It didn't matter if there were cheese courses and kids loved them, they would not have time to eat them. That's why most of the food in the trays goes in the trash, it takes too much time to eat.
I bought these lunch packs with dividers so I could start putting fruit and such for my kids packed lunches and guess what, they returned uneaten, My kids are good eaters. My kids have seen these specials and come back saying we are robbed. So I said, what's up? Why are you not eating your food?
I don't have time mom is the answer. There are times when t hey didn't even have time to finish more than half a sandwich. Why don't these reformers cover this?
Our kids do not have enough time to eat. They get 20 min and that includes the line, settling in, often they are late. It didn't matter if there were cheese courses and kids loved them, they would not have time to eat them. That's why most of the food in the trays goes in the trash, it takes too much time to eat.
I bought these lunch packs with dividers so I could start putting fruit and such for my kids packed lunches and guess what, they returned uneaten, My kids are good eaters. My kids have seen these specials and come back saying we are robbed. So I said, what's up? Why are you not eating your food?
I don't have time mom is the answer. There are times when t hey didn't even have time to finish more than half a sandwich. Why don't these reformers cover this?
32
Or their parents could feed them well. I get that low income kids need lunch provided, but why is it that home prepared lunches (which are apparently now rare) are considered less healthy than the kid eating the school fare? We got PB&J (or tuna or egg salad) with an apple for lunch. A few kids got things like Twinkies, but most kids did not - at least not regularly.
At the very least, the parents ought to be partnering with the school to see to it that their kids get healthy meals.
At the very least, the parents ought to be partnering with the school to see to it that their kids get healthy meals.
10
Agree with your post with a small caveat. Many parents do not eat that well. Consider the national obesity epidemic.
Sadly PB&J is prohibited in many public and private schools. Sad, because it is cheap and nutritious...
I wonder how many parents can "partner with the schools' when they work 2 or 3 jobs to stay afloat.
Mrs. Lucy Washington, the head cook at the black, segregated elementary and high school I attended, cooked food that I loved. Her school lunches were better than anybody's cooking that I knew in the whole world.
My mother, never jealous or put off by my praise and devotion to Mrs. Washington's school lunch, was eager to hear the epicurean delight of the day. Together we celebrated her daily triumphs.
The cafeteria had the excited buzz of the New York Stock Exchange. We students joyful entered into trades of tuna salad, Johnny Marzetti, but our favorite institutional currency was Ms. Lucy's breads--hot corn biscuits, blueberry muffins, and cherry upside cake. Our trades had real value: two biscuits for an entree was a common measure.
As we celebrated and traded, we established a community around her food. We shared a bond, enriched by our differences, a circle of common values.
The African proverb about the whole village helping to raise the child does not do justice to Mrs. Lucy's single-handed work. Daily, through her extraordinary fare, she taught us lessons about pride, love, and sharing. Through her food we learned about caring, preparation, respect, thanksgiving and gifts.
My mind always goes back to Mrs. Lucy's lunch. There are days when the single thought of a bite of her breads is enough to sustain me through the crush of a world that has left me starved for so much.
My mother, never jealous or put off by my praise and devotion to Mrs. Washington's school lunch, was eager to hear the epicurean delight of the day. Together we celebrated her daily triumphs.
The cafeteria had the excited buzz of the New York Stock Exchange. We students joyful entered into trades of tuna salad, Johnny Marzetti, but our favorite institutional currency was Ms. Lucy's breads--hot corn biscuits, blueberry muffins, and cherry upside cake. Our trades had real value: two biscuits for an entree was a common measure.
As we celebrated and traded, we established a community around her food. We shared a bond, enriched by our differences, a circle of common values.
The African proverb about the whole village helping to raise the child does not do justice to Mrs. Lucy's single-handed work. Daily, through her extraordinary fare, she taught us lessons about pride, love, and sharing. Through her food we learned about caring, preparation, respect, thanksgiving and gifts.
My mind always goes back to Mrs. Lucy's lunch. There are days when the single thought of a bite of her breads is enough to sustain me through the crush of a world that has left me starved for so much.
443
What a lovely tribute to Mrs. Washington. I think she put a lot of love and caring into her meals and infused those values in her staff. And, you are a very fine writer. I love your style.
3
I love this.
2
Thanks all! The full version, unedited, can be found here: Stirring the Pot: Food as a Memoir of Mothers' Love [http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/southern-perlo/2010/may/8/stirring-the-p...].
At some point in life you learn that the real money for the citizenry is going to corporate subsidies, farm subsidies, defense industry, the military, etc. Pennies flow back to the peasants.
259
I teach at a middle school in South Los Angeles that serves children of poverty, and am appalled daily by what I see my students eating. If breakfast doesn't come from McDonald's, it's likely to be in the form of a bag of Red Hot Cheetos and a 20 oz. soda from the local liquor store. This even though our school serves a free breakfast to the entire student body. Our kids also get free lunch.
Regarding the food served by the school, my students refer to it as "county food", and some will go hungry rather than eat it. The nutritional value is sometimes questionable, and much of what I have sampled is rubbery, with little taste other than a sort of "chemically" sensation.
I don't doubt that our district is doing the best it can with the resources available to it. Well, maybe I do doubt it, given my district's history of various forms of corruption. But if what I see presented to my students is the best we can do, then the best we can do needs to seriously be improved.
Regarding the food served by the school, my students refer to it as "county food", and some will go hungry rather than eat it. The nutritional value is sometimes questionable, and much of what I have sampled is rubbery, with little taste other than a sort of "chemically" sensation.
I don't doubt that our district is doing the best it can with the resources available to it. Well, maybe I do doubt it, given my district's history of various forms of corruption. But if what I see presented to my students is the best we can do, then the best we can do needs to seriously be improved.
77
I was born and raised in France and while I was a student, lunch was my favorite thing. I just loved it... I live in NY now and I have two children, 11 and 13. When they started school I was incredibly disappointed at the lunches their school offered. I decided they would have a French home lunch and even though I wake up at 5 AM to make sure they get a nice warm meal ( I use a thermos), it is all worth it. And for those who might think I have the time to do it, well think again! I work full time teaching at a High School and trust me, I am tired more often then not but it makes me feel good to know my kids can sit down at lunch and enjoy a real nice meal and when there is a will, there is most definitely a way...
122
Home cooking rocks. Even when I worked full-time we ate home cooked meals, many pre-cooked on the weekends.
4
Save yourself, and use leftovers or soups you made ahead.
We tended not to do that because the length of time that the food sat from the time I packed it, though the bus ride, until lunchtime, didn't guarantee that the food would stay at temperature for long enough.
Packing, depending on your kids' schedule, often leads to needing foods that won't go bad, even with a Thermos or ice pack. Hence the ubiquity of the PB&J.
We tended not to do that because the length of time that the food sat from the time I packed it, though the bus ride, until lunchtime, didn't guarantee that the food would stay at temperature for long enough.
Packing, depending on your kids' schedule, often leads to needing foods that won't go bad, even with a Thermos or ice pack. Hence the ubiquity of the PB&J.
First you have to consider that in France good quality meat (beef, veal, lamb...) is far cheaper than in the US. (Ask journalist why, I have no clue). Then eating pizza, hot dog... is far from the french way of life where good food, enjoying a dinner, cooking is central in the French way of life (with complaining and chatting on the weather... nobody is perfect). Does the American kids like fruit and vegetables ? I would say yes. When, in my kids's school, they organize party (for thanksgiving, ...) kids eat tangerines, grapes, watermelon, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumber .... without sauce, sugar... For a reason I don't understand, we offered them juice but when I brought water, they drink water... Kids may be ready for 'more healthy food', parents may be also ready for it (when I see how they get crazy when their kids eat one candy...) but they may need more informations about calorie calculation... The issue is the price of fresh food (vegetables and fruit) compared to processed industrial food .... Who knows why ?
35
I certainly don't know why, because any excellent cook can tell you that processed food is much more expensive per serving.
When I was in school, elementary through high school, for the large part it was many of our own mothers who worked preparing food in the school cafeteria. The food was good then and it was for the most part eaten by all without very much complaint.
When I was in school, elementary through high school, for the large part it was many of our own mothers who worked preparing food in the school cafeteria. The food was good then and it was for the most part eaten by all without very much complaint.
1
The author is make 2 very different points, one that we aren't willing to spend enough to provide good meals to children and the other that our culture prefers bad food. I think the first argument is weak. We are a nation of junk food addicts.
14
"...think the first argument is weak..."
Been missing the ramifications of the GOP's budget slashing have you?
Been missing the ramifications of the GOP's budget slashing have you?
3
Yes we are joke food addicts in America thanks to the processed food industries promotion of such junk food.
Here's a novel idea. Make your kid a healthy lunch, and stop relying the schools to provide it. It doesn't take much. Some slices of turkey, fruit, and water is a good example. And then there is old reliable - peanut butter and jelly.
139
I don't think peanut butter and jelly cuts it. When we lived in the US my wife kept packing our daughter with peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches to keep her from eating every day a pizza slice provided by the cafeteria. We then moved to Italy when my daughter was in 3rd grade, and my wife initially kept packing the same sandwich as she used to do in the US. However, we were immediately told by the school that it was not allowed, because it interfered with the school-provided meal consisting in a first course of pasta, a second course of meat or fish, a vegetable serving, fruit and a small roll of bread. Although this was a good meal, we were initially incensed that the school would infringe on our freedom of deciding what was best for our daughter. We were told that that these were rules mandated by the school district, and that there was a physician whose specialty was nutrition, who was in charge of making all these decision and deciding the menus for the schools. We talked to this doctor on the phone, who gave us a mini-primer on the nutritional deficiencies of the sandwich, and that was convincing.
91
I agree. But sometimes the best intentions are undone. I made lunches for my kids while they were in school (on home made bread no less!) and found out years later that they routinely traded their sandwiches with their friends for other kinds of food. Pretty funny. (You learn all sorts of things when your kids grow up and tell you about their secret lives when they were still living at home.) So my efforts gave at least SOMEONE a good, healthy lunch every day, and as a bonus, it taught the kids about the free enterprise system; i.e., an unintended course in economics. They all grew up healthy and now they are feeding their own kids, so there was no damage done. But I have no idea what they were eating all those years.
7
Joseph's comment is a great illustration of the author's point. The lunch he describes (slices of turkey, fruit, and water, peanut butter and jelly) ARE NOT healthy: Break it down: Highly processed luncheon meats, full of sodium nitrates, a large serving of high glycemic indexed bread which is metabolized immediately into sugar, jelly (ditto) and peanut butter also full of sugar. Are there vegetables, grains, in the diet Joseph describes, no. One hour after eating such a lunch a student will be hungry again because of the large amounts of carbohydrates and sugar which will send them to a vending machine for candy, or some other food promoted by our junk industry.
80
What always strikes me is the difference in lunch room environments. In the US they are big, loud, bare spaces, all hard surfaces - really unpleasant, unwelcoming, uncomfortable. I own a cafe now but long time ago I was a 'lunch lady' and in one school (yes private) there was a 'cafe' side and an 'express' side. Everyone (adults) worked really hard to make them socially equal spaces, regularly taking their meals in one side or the other, kids had an hour for their break, no one was made to 'take' any particular item. Our cookies were small but delicious, pizza was fresh made, soft tacos, lettuce was really fresh and the food tasted good. Everybody wants to eat delicious food and while the menu may 'read tasty' the reality is that the food offered kids is terrible, the produce is old - red delicious apple anyone? The baked goods are full of non food ingredients, the cheese is made w veg oil, animal proteins are overcooked - Give then delicious, fresh food in a pleasant environment and they will sit - maybe not everyday - but will sit and they will make better choices. Problem is now they have the option of 'fast food' or 'gross' fresh food in a terrible space.....even I would opt for the frozen fried fish stix and a quick exit to the playground...
175
Agree completely about the atmosphere. The children have to sit with their class and have 20 min to go through the line and eat. Not a way to savor the food or learn how to make conversation over a meal.
Agreed. In the Manhattan high school in which I work, many students, and most of them are low income, avoid the cafeteria at lunch time because it's a very unpleasant space. The result is that they miss lunch, many of them have already not eaten breakfast, and after leaving school they're most likely to stop at the bodega for very unhealthy food.
1
Many schools no longer allow lunch recess. And childhood obesity is a problem...
The kids sit in the cafeteria screaming at the top of their lungs and sometimes an provides crayons and paper or pcitures to color.
Someone should write about what really goes on in schools. Unvarnished truths!
The kids sit in the cafeteria screaming at the top of their lungs and sometimes an provides crayons and paper or pcitures to color.
Someone should write about what really goes on in schools. Unvarnished truths!
1
The federal funded school lunch program is first and foremost a jobs program, as are most of the activities in the public schools. It is never about nutrition for kids. Better the States get block grants and let them, using the power of the private sector craft meaningful program. Not mentioned in the article is that the Inspector General the monitors the school lunch program estimates that upwards of 30% of the kids receiving a free lunch are in fact not eligible for such. In summary, it is DC values short changing the kids and the taxpayer.
6
Block grants always mean that people in some states will get nothing. There is a reason we have a national government.
2
In other words, Coolhunter, the meals for school kids program is handled the same way as the farmed-out-to-the-lowest-bidder, American Incarceration and health care systems. All three -- school meals, prisons and health care -- are in thrall to the predatory economics of Big Business/Big Government.
What a wonderful country!
What a wonderful country!
3
I feel fortunate to have grown up at a time when most family meals were eaten at home, and to have grown up in a household where good nutrition was important. Yes, we did eat a lot more meat than people are encouraged to these days, but my mother was an adventurous cook and turned out dinners like linguini and clam sauce (we're not even Italian!), thick split pea soup, yummy pot roast (fat skimmed off the surface), with lots of salad and veggies (mostly frozen, alas, but probably better for us than the limp fresh ones that were available in the off-season). My sister and I were also taken to good restaurants and encouraged to try new foods (although I resisted the frog legs that were served to my mom crossed at the knees on her dinner plate). As a result of this early training I too learned to cook and eat well. Even then kids were exposed to pernicious ads for processed foods, and occasionally my mother would give in and serve us packaged macaroni and cheese or a TV dinner, but these were "treats" and did not appear with great frequency.
Legions of stay-at-home moms are a thing of the past, but it is still possible to train young children to eat well and to resist the blandishments of Madison Avenue. In my town there is a "healthy snacks" program that provides nutritious treats to school children, and our vibrant farm-to-table culture includes vegetable gardens at local schools. This all takes work to organize, but it is truly worth the effort.
Legions of stay-at-home moms are a thing of the past, but it is still possible to train young children to eat well and to resist the blandishments of Madison Avenue. In my town there is a "healthy snacks" program that provides nutritious treats to school children, and our vibrant farm-to-table culture includes vegetable gardens at local schools. This all takes work to organize, but it is truly worth the effort.
16
"...France, where meal prices are tied to family income and wealthy parents can pay around $7 per meal." What about the children whose parents cannot afford $7 per meal; what are they fed? Is this a value we want to emulate?
Also, Michael Moore's work, although thought provoking, is not known for its "fair and balanced" approach. His "documentaries" prove his own point of view, without presenting any alternate viewpoint.
Also, Michael Moore's work, although thought provoking, is not known for its "fair and balanced" approach. His "documentaries" prove his own point of view, without presenting any alternate viewpoint.
7
Miriam, read again: "meal prices are tied to family income," so the wealthier parents are paying $7, the un-wealthy far less. All kids get the same meal.
4
You misread: "meal prices are tried to family income and *wealthy* parents can pay around $7 per meal"
Usually in french schools, parents who don't earn much pay less and parents with a comfortable income pay more. Sometimes large families have a discount too. It all depends on the policy applied by the city council.
According to the article, he federal government provides a little over $3 per student per lunch, and school districts receive a smaller contribution from their state. So we're looking at $4 a lunch. How much do you want to want? Ask your local subshop what they could put together on a bulk order at $4 a head. Or ask the Moms & Dads what they can prepare for $4? It may not be beautiful but it will fill their bellies and should be plenty healthy. We don't need lamb kabobs and scallops. How about apples, tuna fish, peanut butter, chicken salad, green beans, hamburgers, sweet potato fries, pears, carrots?
11
Going back to the article:
"But districts generally require their food departments to pay their own overhead, including electricity, accounting and trash collection. Most are left with a dollar and change for food — and no matter what Mr. Moore says, no one is buying scallops and lamb on that meager budget."
"But districts generally require their food departments to pay their own overhead, including electricity, accounting and trash collection. Most are left with a dollar and change for food — and no matter what Mr. Moore says, no one is buying scallops and lamb on that meager budget."
My kids tell me they must take a vegetable, but they are overcooked and unappetizing (and let's face it not the top of their list anyway). From tray directly to trash. The waste is horrible.
9
Doesn't their school collect food in a separate container to sell/give to pig farmers? They do in lots of places in Switzerland, especially in restaurants.
1
"Here in America, schools are doing the best they can to meet the nutritional needs of millions of children every day, but unfortunately our society is unwilling to do what it takes to truly feed them well."
When I read things like this I really feel bad for America. Look at all the crazy folks running for president and how most of them want to spend so much money policing the world and running wars in the middle east, however how many speak about improving the lot of our children, the future of America!!
When I read things like this I really feel bad for America. Look at all the crazy folks running for president and how most of them want to spend so much money policing the world and running wars in the middle east, however how many speak about improving the lot of our children, the future of America!!
72
I stumbled across this delightful little docu on the execution of Japanese school lunches yesterday:
https://youtu.be/hL5mKE4e4uU
A land where having lunch is considered part of social training and children love fish?
https://youtu.be/hL5mKE4e4uU
A land where having lunch is considered part of social training and children love fish?
22
Erik, thank you. That video blew me away, brought tears, anger at American carelessness, and rage against American hubris in claiming their place in the First World. Please, READERS OF THIS ARTICLE'S COMMENTS, view Erik's video:
https://youtu.be/hL5mKE4e4uU
https://youtu.be/hL5mKE4e4uU
1
Several comments mentioned the billions spent by the manufacturers of food to make people buy their unhealthy products. It must be realized that they don't get those billions out of the fresh air. All those billions are obtained by adding them to the cost of the foods they want us to buy.
19
schools shouldn't be social agencies...teach them how to read, write and do math..forget the food, shots, day care, etc. no wonder standards are slipping into the abyss.
2
Nothing says the things you want to forget about are incompatible with education. A lot of time should be spent showing young people how they can live more intelligently, not just be more intelligent.
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Appreciating food (and for that matter, art) seems to me infinitely more important than say, trig.
10
Its easier to learn how to appreciate food (I taught myself in grad school) than to learn trig outside the classroom. I am a statistician and trig was a turning point in my life. I can afford decend foot as a result. The comparison is ludicrous.
3
Very well written article by all means. Unless and until parents understand and implement healthy food in their day to day lives, we simply can't expect the children to follow suit. Junk food is okay on few occasions but not at all good for all practical purposes on daily basis.
6
I agree that our lunch programs need increased funding, but I am unclear why Siegel thinks schools cannot be expected to do better with the funding they have. If the combined federal & state lunch subsidy is in the ball park of $4-plus (a plausible estimate based on how she described the funding) and we add the money non-free/reduced lunch students pay out of pocket, we begin to approach a per meal cost not so far off of what France's most able families may pay and that is not even considering how much more expensive food and goods often are in Europe. I know there has been an effort to include more fresh fruits and vegetables in lunches, but what I have often seen amounts to mushy frozen broccoli, fresh fruit that is hard, unripe and unappetizing or salads consisting of shredded iceberg lettuce and anemic flavorless dices tomatoes. Who wants eat that? Just because it is a vegetable doesn't mean its been competently prepared and is thus appetizing food.
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The true nature of a country is how it treats it's children!
49
And its elderly. We don't do well on either count and it's pitiful.
1
Not only its children, Michael Kittle, but all its citizens. We are what we eat. A nation as well as an army travels through life on its stomach. Perhaps much of America's destructive aggressiveness comes from the food it eats -- sugar junkies from school-age.
One problem with lunch is that Michelle Obama's kids eat their gourmet foods at Sidwell Friends, while she pushes "nutritious" but unappetizing and often thrown away foods for everybody else's kids.
There are plenty of foods which may be labeled "junk," but which are appetizing and kids will eat. Pizza was mentioned (I don't even eat scallops for lunch). But hot dogs, hamburgers (lettuce,tomatoes)...I'll bet a survey of junior high school students could point the kitchen in the right direction...without the need for a French chef.
There are plenty of foods which may be labeled "junk," but which are appetizing and kids will eat. Pizza was mentioned (I don't even eat scallops for lunch). But hot dogs, hamburgers (lettuce,tomatoes)...I'll bet a survey of junior high school students could point the kitchen in the right direction...without the need for a French chef.
3
Yes, school lunches were "absolutely delicious" before Michelle Obama got involved!! Your comment about MO reminds me of the old adage, "No good deed goes unpunished." I'm proud of the work our First Lady is doing to try to improve the health of our kids.
10
There is a very simple way to fix this problem, and ensure that the French kids don't eat better lunches than our kids: Invade France next.
38
Lol!!!
my grandchildren get first and second courses with fruit and veggis at their school lunch in florence italy. we know they are not into veggies yet so i make sure that during the week they get carrot sticks to help . the carbs are only rice or pasta. the price tag according to family income. we do know what is moving the us congressmen---money from the food industry.
53
I remember that when my family returned from a sabbatical in France, my son, then in second grade, was shocked to find that lunch lasted only 11 minutes in his Massachusetts public school. He'd gotten used to 90 minutes in France. And he couldn't believe that pancakes were considered a meal, with ketchup counting as the "vegetable."
70
Told adage "ignorance is bliss" unfortunately the majority of American parents and students are ignorant regarding food quality.
I'm so glad that the writer of this knowledgeable piece starts by taking Michael Moore to task.
Despite Moore's advocacy of good causes -- such, as in his latest documentary, better American school lunches -- he routinely uses the same sort of selective fact presentation and lack of context employed by right-wing filmmakers and TV news producers.
Despite Moore's advocacy of good causes -- such, as in his latest documentary, better American school lunches -- he routinely uses the same sort of selective fact presentation and lack of context employed by right-wing filmmakers and TV news producers.
3
Another case in point is the difference between military dining facilities (DFAC) in Kabul. The U.S. dining contract force fed a similar diet to school lunches. Almost nothing was cooked locally. Biscuits, bacon, meat, and pollock. The French DFAC served interesting edible meals that catered to the taste and health of its soldiers. Many Americans still view food as a caloric value commodity. Until we appreciate food for its taste and nutritional value, we'll continue to poison our children with pizza, pasta and pop.
20
Better food choices takes two things: a) educate the kids about healthy food choices, and b) going into their homes to revise meal preparation and selection there.
Action a) is about 2% of the battle, and it would face fierce debate. Action b) is about 98% of the battle. Good luck winning there.
Sorry about being so negative. You CAN do these changes in your own home, and that would make a difference for your child. Your friends may notice and change a bit also. Those are good results.
Action a) is about 2% of the battle, and it would face fierce debate. Action b) is about 98% of the battle. Good luck winning there.
Sorry about being so negative. You CAN do these changes in your own home, and that would make a difference for your child. Your friends may notice and change a bit also. Those are good results.
2
Out dtr goes to a public school in an affluent area and we prepay a thru an app for anytime she buys "hot lunch" from their cafeteria. She uses up $25 for about 4 meals, so that is a little over $6 a meal. The food items avlbl to her sound pretty pathetic by her description so most days I pack her lunch from home than waste money. I doubt this is simply a cost factor. America's food culture is broken and school meals are representative by the choices offered esp lacking in healthy flavorful plant and whole grain based choices.
6
Children in France like French cafeteria food because that's what they've always eaten. French daycares serve exactly the same food as French elementary schools, high schools, workplaces, hospitals, army messes, and old age homes. That's the main meal of the day for most people, and it's what everybody in France expects to eat. If we started kids on it as soon as they could eat food, as they do in France, our kids would like it too.
172
Growing up in a wealthy NYC suburb, I made my own lunch for at least 8 years and never had a school lunch in 12. Today, a tuna fish on whole wheat bread sandwich, an apple, a cup of milk and a treat cost less than $1 in today's money, and a few minutes time before school. Standing in line for food takes longer than filling a lunch bucket. Now the poorest of the poor who don't spend 10 minutes a day on homework, get free government lunch, even with mothers who do not work. Maybe this is better than a lunch of cheese and crackers and a bag of potato chips and a can of soda pop, which one assumes is the default lunch of low I.Q. mothers in single parent households. How sad. Just what did the farm kids do in the 1930's for lunch? They ate homemade food from the farm with little or no sugar. Those poor starving farm kids. . .
5
Having brought up 2 kids in French, Italian, and American school systems, there is no question that this is accurate regarding school menus: as each culture reflects, healthy and varied food choices are taken much more seriously in Europe. In our observation, obesity is vanishingly rare among French and Italian children.
It also does not surprise me that it is done less expensively in Europe. That is due to the focus inherent in the school system: choices are narrowed each day, longer-term planning by public authorities is more of less trusted, and some rigidities are tolerated or imposed, such as pork being served to Muslims and Jews on some days.
This pattern is evident in the public policy approach in Europe, which is better at taking into account the needs of the larger community. That is why the single-payer health care system costs about 1/3 what it does in the US with better epidemiological results for the general population. Of course, those who don't or can't conform can fall through the cracks: very fancy, boutique-style health treatments may not be accessible for rare diseases, but the generic treatments that do the most good for the majority, often are at affordable rates.
As much as anything, this is a philosophical orientation that is lacking in the US, at least for the moment, where government is distrusted, experts are denounced, and community concerns neglected; if you can pay for extra services, you're fine, but if you can't, you go without.
It also does not surprise me that it is done less expensively in Europe. That is due to the focus inherent in the school system: choices are narrowed each day, longer-term planning by public authorities is more of less trusted, and some rigidities are tolerated or imposed, such as pork being served to Muslims and Jews on some days.
This pattern is evident in the public policy approach in Europe, which is better at taking into account the needs of the larger community. That is why the single-payer health care system costs about 1/3 what it does in the US with better epidemiological results for the general population. Of course, those who don't or can't conform can fall through the cracks: very fancy, boutique-style health treatments may not be accessible for rare diseases, but the generic treatments that do the most good for the majority, often are at affordable rates.
As much as anything, this is a philosophical orientation that is lacking in the US, at least for the moment, where government is distrusted, experts are denounced, and community concerns neglected; if you can pay for extra services, you're fine, but if you can't, you go without.
383
Government is distrusted and "experts" are suspected because far too often our governments have be revealed to be liars and the "experts" more self-proclaimed than demonstrated.
Add to that the do-gooders like Michelle Obama and her school lunch cruisade, and you have a fine recipe for total garbage on the plates.
Add to that the do-gooders like Michelle Obama and her school lunch cruisade, and you have a fine recipe for total garbage on the plates.
1
You're last sentence sums up the USA.......Quality of life is only as good as what you can afford.
2
As long as advertisers spend billions molding the food tastes and preferences of children and adults, and food producers spend billions developing products fine-tuned to be maximally addictive with the cheapest ingredients and preparations, school lunches will continue pretty much as they are. Like all the rest of us, our children exist as entities with respect to which profits can be made.
The power of our food system is shown by what happens to children of immigrants with magnificent culinary traditions (such as Italians). Our food culture usually wins.
The power of our food system is shown by what happens to children of immigrants with magnificent culinary traditions (such as Italians). Our food culture usually wins.
31
I would like to know what is served in Italian schools for lunch.
France is part of civilization.
America is part of $ivilization.
As long as we fund the 0.1% with the proper tax welfare, executive wage theft and corporate subsidies, there's nothing wrong with the institutional child abuse of public school lunches.
Ketchup is a very nutritious vegetable.
High-fructose corn syrup is an important part of a healthy diet.
A Cheez-It® is just as good as cheese.
The most important vegetable in America is delicious, psychopathic greed....it's very $ati$fying.
Finish your plate$, kid$ !
America is part of $ivilization.
As long as we fund the 0.1% with the proper tax welfare, executive wage theft and corporate subsidies, there's nothing wrong with the institutional child abuse of public school lunches.
Ketchup is a very nutritious vegetable.
High-fructose corn syrup is an important part of a healthy diet.
A Cheez-It® is just as good as cheese.
The most important vegetable in America is delicious, psychopathic greed....it's very $ati$fying.
Finish your plate$, kid$ !
270
The problem is those processed foods in the school lunch may be America's most durable manufactured products.
5
And cow's milk is cheap, maybe free to schools. Manynonwhite kids have the free breakfast and lunch, including milk, and many, especially nonwhites, may be lactose-intolerant, undiagnosed. This leads to an uneasy stomach --attention and behavior problems.
Has this ever been addressed, anywhere
Has this ever been addressed, anywhere
1
I’d be interested in the financials underpinning the claim that less is spent to prepare a school lunch in Normandy that in the U.S. On the face of it, this sounds absurd. Could it be that France subsidizes those Normandy chefs so that the cost of food and labor to Normandy is trivial? Then, Normandy has about 600,000 school-age children to feed while the U.S. has over 70 million, divided into tiny, inefficient towns and regions that don’t share suppliers or even methods.
Now, THAT’S a hoot – in a mass-production environment like our school-lunch programs, causing more affluent parents to pay as much as $7 for a child’s school lunch. Talk about branding children with the status of their parents. How well would THAT fly here? But, then, how many “affluent” parents ARE there in Normandy, and how do they define “affluent”?
One possible solution is for the thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of school lunch facilities to be outsourced to a few gargantuan suppliers nationally that would take over more and more each year, and that were incentivized by some scorecard to offer better food at affordable prices. Let them compete by how many kids they can inveigle to buy their lunches while satisfying scorecard requirements.
Would our kids get guinea-fowl and a cheese course? Come on, we’re Americans. But better than pizza and mystery-meat? Why not?
Now, THAT’S a hoot – in a mass-production environment like our school-lunch programs, causing more affluent parents to pay as much as $7 for a child’s school lunch. Talk about branding children with the status of their parents. How well would THAT fly here? But, then, how many “affluent” parents ARE there in Normandy, and how do they define “affluent”?
One possible solution is for the thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of school lunch facilities to be outsourced to a few gargantuan suppliers nationally that would take over more and more each year, and that were incentivized by some scorecard to offer better food at affordable prices. Let them compete by how many kids they can inveigle to buy their lunches while satisfying scorecard requirements.
Would our kids get guinea-fowl and a cheese course? Come on, we’re Americans. But better than pizza and mystery-meat? Why not?
2
If our gargantuan suppliers got control of the scorecard (as usually happens here), they would replace it with the scorecard of profits and offer cheaply-prepared food at prices that maximized the return on their investment. The students receive stuff they will eat even if it is not good for them, and various agricultural support programs have a captive market for their excess products.
27
c3p0:
Because of the visibility of such a scorecard and its likely importance to parents, it's VERY unlikely that the gargantuan competitors ever would gain control of it.
Nothing wrong with tapping our immense agricultural excess, but really big providers would consolidate and streamline supply chains of food and further open up space for improvement while still permitting good profits.
Often, the problem with the left is that its FIRST recourse to solving a problem is government and something huge, unwieldy, immensely bureaucratic and programmatic. Once in a while you ought to look to what makes America REALLY strong, which is properly regulated private enterprise.
Because of the visibility of such a scorecard and its likely importance to parents, it's VERY unlikely that the gargantuan competitors ever would gain control of it.
Nothing wrong with tapping our immense agricultural excess, but really big providers would consolidate and streamline supply chains of food and further open up space for improvement while still permitting good profits.
Often, the problem with the left is that its FIRST recourse to solving a problem is government and something huge, unwieldy, immensely bureaucratic and programmatic. Once in a while you ought to look to what makes America REALLY strong, which is properly regulated private enterprise.
1
There may be less spent on ingredients since there are typically more ingredients worked "in house" in France than would be in the USA, but depending on when and where in France the actual cost per meal averages out to about 8 to 10 euros per meal. I like Michael Moore, and he makes plenty of good points, but rest assured that scallpos and lamb skewers do not make a represenative sampling of french "cantine food" on a day to day basis.
As far as income based cost per student, it's all paid by the parent(s) before the semester, so not easy to label students on that basis alone.
As far as income based cost per student, it's all paid by the parent(s) before the semester, so not easy to label students on that basis alone.
1
The real problem with school lunches is that you can't feed kids for nothing.
They don't have any money for food. They are trying to feed kids on pennies a day. They end up inventing weird excuses for food because it is all they can get.
We can bomb countries we've barely heard of, and many voters polled supported bombing a fictional country from a cartoon, but we can't find money to feed our kids.
When you won't find money to feed your kids, that is sick. Decent people go hungry to feed their kids, but we do tax cuts instead. That'll trickle down on their heads one day, maybe like some sickly orange drink.
They don't have any money for food. They are trying to feed kids on pennies a day. They end up inventing weird excuses for food because it is all they can get.
We can bomb countries we've barely heard of, and many voters polled supported bombing a fictional country from a cartoon, but we can't find money to feed our kids.
When you won't find money to feed your kids, that is sick. Decent people go hungry to feed their kids, but we do tax cuts instead. That'll trickle down on their heads one day, maybe like some sickly orange drink.
216
Mark, I guess the problem I have with your comment is that it fits in the pattern of kvetches one sees too often from the left. Society never spends enough on whatever the priority of the moment or the subject of discussion is. But you add up ALL those priorities and consider ALL those topics of discussion and you quickly come to a requirement for public resources multiples of what we spend now, far beyond what higher taxes on a few millionaires and billionaires can satisfy.
Do we NOT bomb Syria to destroy ISIS? Are there no OTHER priorities our society must address besides the one elevated for its fifteen minutes by an op-ed? Will the left ever consider stepping outside the box to find solutions that DON'T require more and more and more money?
Do we NOT bomb Syria to destroy ISIS? Are there no OTHER priorities our society must address besides the one elevated for its fifteen minutes by an op-ed? Will the left ever consider stepping outside the box to find solutions that DON'T require more and more and more money?
5
The idea that the left is kvetching and demanding money for a trumped-up 15-minute cause - proper children's nutrition - is barbaric when the assumption is that public resources are for bombing . The previous comment is so reasonably stated, but the inhumanity of such policies belongs in the past.
27
is the bombing doing any good? it is surely helping the bomb manufacturers!
13
I volunteered at my daughter' s cafeteria when she was at a private catholic school. The lunches were ok, not much different than the public schools in the same town, except the private school did not sell ice cream and soda. They did have salads, but most went uneaten. As well as the fresh fruit served. The pizza was always eaten, devoured on pizza day. It was made fresh so that helped. But still. They did not have soda at her school, but chocolate milk was the hands down favorite. And I would watch the kids who came with packed lunches at home. Fruit thrown away. Things traded for cookies another student had.
Kids in Europe may eat scallops, but kids here like hot dogs and pizza and ice cream. A healthy balance is what we need to strive for. and more parent involvement. Most parents have not a clue what is served or what their kids are eating.
Kids in Europe may eat scallops, but kids here like hot dogs and pizza and ice cream. A healthy balance is what we need to strive for. and more parent involvement. Most parents have not a clue what is served or what their kids are eating.
72
As an active substitute teacher (K - 12) I am in schools in middle and upper class suburbs every day. I make it a point to eat with the kids but I wouldn't be caught eating WHAT they eat. And, mostly, neither would they. So much food is thrown away. When you consider the homeless people close by who would not be so picky and the educative value of gardening and meal prep this is a real, costly and annoying waste. If any one aspect of the Field to table school lunch program was intelligently redesigned - even including waste generation of power for the building it would be an win-win-win.
5
Maybe PTA conference events should include a meal shared by teachers, students, and parents/ guardians so everyone knows what the kids are served or eating. Also, parents need to be stricter and less accommodating with kids' eating habits -- when I was growing, not that long ago in the 80s and 90s, there was no such thing as not eating what you were served. If you didn't eat what was served, you got nothing else from my parents.
9
Ir is a sad reflection on our culture, on our country, on our knowledge, and/or, lack thereof, that Ms. Siegel should even have to write this article! I am not for 'striking' a balance, Ms. Nelson, you are what you eat! No wonder so many politicians, especially on the right are nut cases--the ones who would not even allow meatless Mondays in the Congressional Dining rooms, when freshman member of Congress with different food habits, such as Indian, and vergetarians, wanted to introduce the concept. Trying to have children eat healthy food should not be a matter of finance and budget, and is it not strange that the world's richest country has such low funding for areas it should prioritize without even having to think about it? In fact allow we are rich, it is due to size and volume, on many levels our standards and standards of living are under developed. Culture and what we eat are passed down from family to family and reinforced by our social institutions, which in turn reflect what we know from home. It is unfortunate that Mr Moore's message rings and stands true, despite the reasons for it not being otherwise and good intentions. In so many ways, we are a strange country,a nd our gross fast food, and even the taste for it, is embarrassing and low, I am sorry to say. If pizza in the US could be as good and as nutritiiurs in Italy, where they have very little fast food, then pizza, with salad and fresh gelato with fresh fruit would be most welcome.
4