Each year, on or around my blog’s May 26th birthday (blogiversary?), I like to write a post taking stock of the prior twelve months. But this year, I’m feeling a little melancholy.
I started TLT back in 2010 purely on a whim, thinking it would be an interesting writing outlet between freelance magazine assignments. But as it turns out, I’d inadvertently launched a blog that was (partially) about school food right during the 2010 Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR), the springboard from which First lady Michelle Obama and a host of advocates were trying to improve outdated school meal nutrition standards. Though entirely accidental, this timing gave me plenty to write about; soon I was regularly publishing impassioned posts for my tiny-but-growing readership in support of these reform efforts.
In December of that year I watched President Obama sign the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law on my laptop’s livestream – I still remember exactly what my BFF Michelle was wearing at the ceremony – and I naively thought we were done. School nutrition had been overhauled – hurrah! – and now I could write more often about the other kid-and-food issues that interested me.
And yet here we are, six years later, fighting some of the exact same battles all over again.
Just two years after President Obama signed the HHFKA, the School Nutrition Association, once a supporter of the law’s strong nutrition standards, reversed course and started a concerted campaign to roll them back. To advance this new agenda, the organization threw itself into the welcoming arms of House Republicans and for a while these allies seemed to be working on the same page. But now the House Education and the Workforce Committee has passed a CNR bill that’s so wrongheaded, even the SNA is taken aback and urging its members to speak out against it.
Not only would this House bill weaken school nutrition standards, subjecting them to more frequent and less scientific review, it would also allow the return of school junk food fundraisers, keep thousands of kids in high poverty areas from getting free meals without paperwork and stigma, and it proposes a three-state block grant pilot for school meals, a scheme which could potentially deprive poverty-stricken children in those states of free school meals altogether.
The Senate Agriculture Committee came up with a much more reasonable child nutrition bill earlier this year, so of course it remains to be seen how the CNR will play out in Congress. But when one side is pushing hard for less nutritious food on cafeteria trays, campuses awash with junk food and fewer hungry kids getting fed, you can’t help but feel like we’re pushing a big, heavy rock up a hill, only to watch it roll right back down again.
School food politics aside, though, it’s really been a remarkable year on TLT and for me personally. Among other things, I’m celebrating (in no particular order): our slam-dunk Change.org petition win against McDonald’s “540 Meals” in schools; getting the chance to interview staunch supporters of child nutrition like Senator Debbie Stabenow and USDA Under Secretary Kevin Concannon; “meeting” talented authors like Bee Wilson, inspiring advocates like Alli Sosna and enterprising young people like the college students running MiddFoods; continuing to write stories for Civil Eats, which always feels like a huge honor; having an op-ed in the New York Times; baking my very first yeast bread (um, amazing!) 🙂 — and, of course, the continued pleasure of blogging here with all of you.
Thanks for sticking with me for so long – longer than I ever could’ve imagined back in 2010. I’m looking forward to Year Seven on TLT, whatever it may bring!
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Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Bettina Elias Siegel
Kellie Karavias says
I feel you friend. So proud of everything The Lunch Tray represents and stands for, a real advocate for child nutrition.
I get weighted down with all the buracracy and foolishness around what should be a simple, non-negotiable effort…feeding our children better. I have equated it with a marathon dance–two steps forward, three steps back, switching partners, some in sync some off beat, some with two left feet–continuously stepping on toes. All I can say is I have my proverbial sneaks on and I know you do too. It’s too important to tap out on the future of the nation’s children.
Love your chutzpah, love your candid and laser-focused approach in this food revolution. I’ll continue to see you on the dance floor, we got this–because we have to. Besides, it’s the best birthday wish of all–the gift of a healthier future.
Happy 6th The Lunch Tray
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Thank you, Kellie! That’s so kind of you to say. And for those who might not know her, Kellie is a truly amazing force here in Houston ISD, championing nutrition education long before it was on most people’s radar.
Gretchen says
Congratulations, Bettina! I’m so impressed by all that you’ve done, and particularly love that my girls are so proud of you and so eager to tout your accomplishments to anyone who’ll listen. You’ve got pre-teens talking about school food, food safety, and other food issues (they were especially incensed by the McDonald’s movie), and also realizing the power of one person to make a difference in the world. You’re an inspiration!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Thank you, Gretchen! I love that your pre-teens are talking about these issues. 🙂
Karen Showalter says
Bettina – you’re such an important voice and presence in the movement for healthy schools. THANK YOU for all you’ve done this year, and every year! You’re an inspiration to us all!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
That’s so kind of you, Karen! And THANK YOU to Moms Rising and the Good Food Force for all you do in this area as well.