The Lunch Tray

Really? 20% of Kids Surveyed Think Pasta Comes from an Animal

Bettina Elias Siegel — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:20:38 +0000

Well, that’s apparently true in Australia, anyway. But would the results of a food literacy survey here in the U.S. be any different?

We’ve talked a lot on The Lunch Tray about the sharp decline in food knowledge and cooking skills in America, a country which ranks last among 20 surveyed nations in terms of time spent in the kitchen. And who can forget Jamie Oliver’s first season of “Food Revolution,” in which kids in Huntington, West Virginia couldn’t identify common fruits and vegetables by sight?

These issues matter. When we turn the cooking over entirely to restaurants and the makers of processed foods, we gain convenience at the expense of reasonable portion size and control over ingredients. The adverse effect on our health, at least as measured by rising obesity rates, is clear.

As I discussed at length in this post a while back, there are no easy fixes for widespread food illiteracy. While I certainly support the idea of public schools playing a role, I’m not sure how much they can accomplish during this era of No Child Left Behind and budget cuts. Still, though, it’s worth checking out this new infographic from the Food Revolution demanding compulsory food education.

Guess where 27% of Australian kids think yogurt comes from?

by FoodRevolution. Browse more data visualizations.

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Congressman Jared Polis Revisits “School Food Pizza = Vegetable”

Bettina Elias Siegel — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:27:54 +0000

One of the most dismaying aspects of the recent passage of new federal school meal standards was the collective caving by Congress to pressure from various food manufacturers seeking to protect profits.

The most notorious of these episodes was the fight over the continued classification of pizza as a school food vegetable. To recap: a quirk in prior regulations allowed schools to count pizza as a school meal vegetable serving due to the nutritional content of the tomato paste. When the USDA, following a sensible recommendation from the Institute of Medicine, sought to change that rule, huge food companies like Schwan and ConAgra – major producers of frozen pizza for the National School Lunch Program — went into high gear and successfully lobbied against the change. (More background here and here.) It was a stark, depressing demonstration of the power of corporate interests versus children’s health.

But based on conversations I’d had with a source on the Hill, I noted in my last post on “pizza = vegetable” that the battle was lost but the war was not necessarily over: the agricultural spending bill which gutted the pizza rule will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, i.e, September, 2012, creating an opportunity to revisit the issue.

Well, it looks like Congressman Jared Polis (D-Co) is seeking to take advantage of that window. He’s just introduced new legislation, cleverly named the SLICE Act (School Lunch Improvements for Children’s Education) which, according to his website, would seek to:

implement healthful standards to pizza in public schools in three significant ways:

Allow the USDA to accurately count 1/8 of a cup of tomato paste as 1/8 of a cup, instead of half of a cup, which qualifies pizza as a vegetable;

Allow the USDA to implement science-based sodium reduction targets; and,

Allow the USDA to set a whole grain requirement.

Given the demonstrated, unstoppable power of the food lobby to quash even the most modest anti-obesity efforts over the last few years (and if you haven’t read the Reuters article referenced in the foregoing hyperlink, I urge you to do so), I have no reason to believe this bill will be any more successful than the last attempt to change this outmoded rule.

But hey, a school food blogger can dream.

And, regardless, kudos to Rep. Polis for keeping the issue alive and reminding us that:

Agribusinesses should never dictate the quality of school meals. . . .Big food companies have their priorities, which include selling cheap, unhealthy foods at high profits. But parents and schools have their priorities; making sure our kids eat right because research shows a clear connection between nutrition and student performance in school.

Amen.

The Battle Over Sugary School Treats: A Link Round-Up

Bettina Elias Siegel — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:01:46 +0000

For a few weeks now I’ve been amassing some interesting links for you on the always-contentious issues of school bake sales and sugary classroom treats and rewards:

An Overview of Practices Around the Country

Bloomberg/Businessweek recently published an interesting overview on how districts around the country deal with school bake sales, from outright bans to regulating the time and place at which they can be held.

Massachusetts Gets Cold Feet

But disregard the mention in the Bloomberg piece about Massachusetts getting ready to ban bake sales: today on Food Politics, Marion Nestle describes how an uproar immediately ensued when that plan was announced in Massachusetts, resulting in a hasty retraction.

Classroom Birthday Celebrations Quantified

One interesting tidbit from Marion’s post is that there has actually been a scholarly study of the food offered for classroom birthday parties. (How could I, of all people, not know this? :-) ) Here’s one notable finding: caloric intake from foods and beverages offered during classroom celebrations can contribute between 20-35% of a child’s daily caloric needs. Given my – ahem- strong interest in this subject, I’m eager to read the study in its entirety.

New Colorado Rules Draw Fire

Meanwhile, Susan Tang of Little Ladies Who Lunch recently sent me this piece about a Colorado district’s new nutrition regulations and ban on food fundraisers — and negative parent reaction to it. (More from Fox News, here.)

What About Individual Choice?

For those in the pro-sugary-treat faction who say, “If you don’t like it, just tell your kid to abstain,” please consider reading this new post from Sally Kuzemchak of Real Mom Nutrition. She’s writing about sugary soccer snacks but the post would be just as applicable to school treats. As is usually the case with Sally’s posts, I feel like she took the words right out of my mouth.

Can Schools Make Money Without Selling Junk Food?

We all know that bake sales and school stores selling junk food earn significant money for cash-strapped schools, and many are simply afraid to give up that precious revenue source. That’s why I’m interested in attending a webinar on non-food school fundraisers, hosted next Wednesday by the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity. You can join me by registering here.

Don’t Forget the Manifesto!

Click to enlarge and read

Finally, if you’re getting entirely fed up with the amount of sugar and junk food your kid is fed at school without your knowledge or permission, don’t forget The Lunch Tray’s “manifesto” on this topic. Feel free to copy it, share it and let others know how you feel!

HBO’s “Weight of the Nation” Premieres Tonight

Bettina Elias Siegel — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:35:38 +0000

I just wanted to remind TLT readers that tonight (8pm EST) marks the premiere of the first two episodes of the much-anticipated HBO documentary, “Weight of the Nation,” about America’s obesity crisis. The final two episodes will air tomorrow night.

I spoke a several times with one of the producers of the show a few months ago and was pleased to learn that school food and the school food environment will receive special focus. You’ll also see many friends of this blog interviewed, including Janet Poppendieck, Brian Wansink, and experts from the Yale Rudd Center on Food Policy & Obesity.

Here’s the trailer:

Some Friday Frivolity

Bettina Elias Siegel — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:52:45 +0000

I’m recovering from an awful bout of (benign) vertigo this week, leaving me feeling literally and figuratively off-kilter.

I have lots of draft posts to share with you, but they’re all on weighty topics that I just don’t have the energy to face today. So let’s instead close out the week with something totally frivolous.

My kids and I loved watching this video recently. (And sorry for the large frame size – WordPress isn’t letting me scale it for some reason.)

And before I sign off, an early Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

Last year I did a Mother’s Day food round-up where readers shared the various breakfasts they’d been seved by their kids. My personal favorite was a mom who was treated to “cereal, a mint, two peanut butter cups and a lollipop but best of all, fresh coffee.” :-) On Monday, you can share how you were feted by your kids on the blog’s Facebook page.

Have a great weekend! More Lunch Tray on Monday . . .

TLT Guest Post: FoodCorps Brings Farm-to-School Produce to Jackson, MS

Bettina Elias Siegel — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:34:24 +0000

A few months ago I told you all about FoodCorps, a promising new public service organization (part of AmeriCorps) dedicated to improving the health of children in low-income communities. Operating in ten states (and possibly expanding to two more in the near future), FoodCorps service members dedicate a year of their lives to providing hands-on nutrition education in schools, building and tending school gardens and bringing local food into school cafeterias. I also shared with you a guest blog post describing “a day in the life” of a FoodCorps service member.

Today I’m pleased to share another guest blog post from FoodCorps, this time co-authored by four service members serving down in Jackson, Mississippi: Abigail Phillips, Alex Sligar, Lauren Cioffi and Graham Downey. Together they share their experiences from April 30th, the day on which a new farm-to-school pilot program was launched in Jackson:

Farm-to-School Day in Jackson

Mrs. Skipper, the food service director at Pecan Park Elementary feared no one would eat all the sweet potatoes. Not to mention the extra work in preparing fresh produce. “I’d thought [the farm to school day] might be a hassle, because we would have to wash fresh greens, but they arrived clean and chopped. It was no more work than any other lunch.” And as for fears that kids wouldn’t eat them? No worries there either; a student at Dawson Elementary affirmed the success, saying “I don’t eat sweet potatoes, but I like sweet potatoes today!”

Farmer Joe stands proudly behind the collards and sweet potatoes he grew

These kinds of breakthroughs were exactly what Jackson’s first Farm to School day was all about. When MS Roadmap to Health Equity, Inc, FoodCorps, the Jackson Public School District food service directors and Mississippi Association of Cooperatives (MAC) came together the hope was to plan a successful pilot of a Farm to School system that could be used as an example when planning a district-wide, full year Farm-to-School relationship. Existing Farm-to-School systems provide fresh produce to schools from local farmers. This improves the nutrition content of school food, creates substantial support for small, often sustainable, farmers and provides an opportunity to teach kids about nutrition by looking at local food systems.

The smell of fresh cooked collards and baked sweet potato sticks with cinnamon was undeniable at four Public Schools in Jackson, Mississippi on Monday, April 30th, where the farm to school pilot program took off. MAC agreed to source local collards and sweet potatoes to Dawson Elementary, G.N. Smith Elementary, Pecan Park Elementary and Rowan Middle School in conjunction with the local FoodCorps effort to build school gardens, teach nutrition education through gardening and cooking classes and bolster the school food system with healthier and more localized options.

Farm-fresh collard greens and sweet potatoes

The program was a success, with farmers in attendance at every school! The event helped students understand the value of fresh, local foods. When asked about the new veggies on her tray, one student at G.N. Smith proudly declared “These sweet potatoes are healthy.”

At Rowan Middle School, students took advantage of the opportunity to ask farmers questions about income. One student posed farmer Darnella Burkett-Winston with the comment “I thought farmers were poor…” Ms. Burkett-Winston responded “Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t have a mouth?” spurring many more questions about the potential to sell school grown produce.

The lunch was a hit. Not only was it no more work for the cafeteria workers to prepare and serve the local foods but the farmers potentially gained a valuable customer, the school district. The students enjoyed eating crops they’ve been growing and talking to the farmers that produced them and the importance of sourcing healthy options was further confirmed within the schools.

The following day at Pecan Park students came out to the garden to make rainbow chard wraps and write in their food journals. Wesley asked Quavius, “What did we have for lunch yesterday?” and Quavius replied, “Come on man! It was farm to school! We got them greens, the farmer’s ones!”

* * *

Thanks to these FoodCorps service members for sharing their story on TLT today. You can learn more about about FoodCorps here, and watch two videos of FoodCorps workers in action here and here.

If You Don’t Sell It, Fewer Will Eat It: The Effectiveness of California’s Curbs on In-School Junk Food

Bettina Elias Siegel — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:54:24 +0000

A school store "lunch"

I was recently in touch with a mom who works regularly in the school store at her kids’ high school. The store sells some of the worst junk foods — Funyuns, candy, sodas, etc. — which she often sees the kids grabbing in large quantities for breakfast or lunch. But one of the ways the school justifies the practice (besides the huge amount of money brought in by junk food sales) is that these kids “would just go off campus and get the same foods anyway.”

I believe that schools should not be in the business of supplying junk foods to kids. Period. And while I don’t dismiss the desperate need of cash-squeezed schools to make up budget shortfalls, doing so at the expense of student health is, in my opinion, morally wrong; there has to be another way. But many schools, especially high schools, do take this position of: ”Hey, if we don’t sell it to them, someone else will.”

That’s why I was especially interested in a study which came out yesterday evaluating the effect of the nutritional requirements imposed by California on its schools’ “competitive food,” i.e., food sold in places like vending machines, school stores and cafeteria snack bars, all in competition with the federal school meal. According to the New York Times Well blog:

The study found that California high school students consumed on average nearly 160 calories fewer per day than students in other states, the equivalent of cutting out a small bag of potato chips. That difference came largely from reduced calorie consumption at school, and there was no evidence that students were compensating for their limited access to junk food at school by eating more at home.

[Emphasis mine]

The study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, compared the eating habits of California high schoolers to kids in fourteen other states that had no nutrition standards for competitive food. Again, according to the Well blog, it found that:

California students had the lowest daily intake of calories, fat and, especially, added sugars. And it seemed clear that their eating behaviors at school played a large role. California students got a lower proportion of their daily calories from school foods than students in other states: about 21.5 percent, compared with 28.4 percent among students elsewhere.

The reductions in fat, sugar and calorie consumption among Hispanic students “are particularly encouraging given the high prevalence of youth obesity among Hispanic individuals in California and the United States over all,” the authors wrote. “It is also encouraging in light of research that documented the high presence of convenience stores, mobile food vendors and other food outlets surrounding schools in Hispanic communities.”

In the end, it just seems like common sense. When my pantry is full of chips and cookies, I tend to eat those foods because they’re readily available. When I keep those foods out of my pantry and would have to expend some extra effort to go get them, I tend to eat fewer of those foods. So why are we making it incredibly easy for kids to eat the very worst junk foods at school?

The good news is, new federal guidelines (to be released for comment later this year) will improve nutritional standards for competitive foods nationwide. While I remain pessimistic about what those rules will look like after industry lobbying (more on that in a future post), at the very least they should put a stop to a school-supplied breakfast of Funyons.

Spork Report: More Salad Bars Coming to Houston ISD

Bettina Elias Siegel — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:19:16 +0000

Hooray!

Newer Lunch Tray readers may not know that I also write (with less frequency) a second blog called “The Spork Report,” devoted exclusively to school food here in my own district, Houston ISD. The blog’s entries are cross-posted on the Houston Chronicle‘s chron.com site and are shared here on TLT as well (preceded by “Spork Report” in the title).

Today I wanted to share some good news from our district – twenty-one new “fruit and veggie carts” headed our way!

Of course, we have about 300 schools, so we have a long way to go before all Houston kids have access to this fresh produce. In addition, the carts are funded by outside donations which may not be a sustainable model throughout the district or one that’s easily replicable elsewhere.

But hey, who am I took look new salad bars in the mouth . . . er, sneeze guard? :-)

A Virtual Progressive Dinner Party — and You’re Invited!

Bettina Elias Siegel — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:15:31 +0000

Would you care for a glass of wine?

Last year, in honor of Food Day, several bloggers and I banded together to host a “virtual progressive dinner party.” The idea was that readers could go from one blog to the next for each successive course, and the hosts provided recipes, step-by-step cooking photos, giveaways — and even virtual glasses of wine.

It was so much fun that we’re all getting together again, this time in honor of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day on May 19th. (Because that’s a Saturday, our party will be held the day before, on Friday, May 18th.) It seemed a perfect way to mark a day dedicated to food literacy, cooking skills and eating together.

Here’s what’s in store for you on May 18th:

appetizers hosted by Billy Mawhiney of Time at the Table
soup and salad hosted by Brianne DeRosa, of Red, Round, or Green
entrée hosted by Jeanne Fratello of the The Jolly Tomato
side dishes hosted by Eila Johnson of the Full Plate blog and Grace Freedman of EatDinner.org
and finally, dessert hosted by yours truly here at The Lunch Tray.

Visit the Food Revolution site to learn more in a post written by Bri of Red, Round or Green, the brilliant mastermind behind last year’s party.

Can’t wait to host you all at my place for dessert — and a giveaway! (Hmmm . . . could this be my chance to unload another Candwich on an unsuspecting reader? [cackles menacingly])

Canada’s Largest Grocer To Remove Artificial Flavors, Colors From Its Products

Bettina Elias Siegel — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:29:33 +0000

Thanks to reader JMN, I learned that Canada’s largest grocery chain, Loblaws, will soon be removing all artificial dyes and colors from all of its house brands.

This news comes on the heels of our recent discussion about the decision of confectioner Nestle to remove these artificial additives from all candies sold in the United Kingdom.

What’s promising to me about both of these developments is that neither move was the result of governmental regulation but instead, presumably, a profit-driven desire to meet a perceived consumer demand. Says an expert cited in the Canadian news story:

“I think the real trend here is to say…we’re really concerned about your health and therefore we’re doing everything we possibly can to assure you our products are taking [that] into account.”

Even though the evidence linking artificial dyes and flavours to health problems isn’t conclusive, Prof. Mendelson said switching to more natural ingredients may be a sure-fire way to increase profits.

“[It’s] an opportunity to position yourself as being highly interested in health and health sells,” she said. “It’s a way to differentiate in a very crowded marketplace.”

Dare we hope that American companies might someday follow suit? Or are American consumers just too wedded to their brightly hued (and presumably a bit cheaper) foods?