Let’s move away from the birthday cupcake debate (for now, anyway) and back to the issue of school food. Imagine that you’ve been crowned Food Services Director for a huge urban school district (say, Houston) and can change the menus any way you like. But like any good Food Services Director, you do need to keep up the level of student participation in your lunch program.
What would you serve?
I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately. Houston ISD’s Food Services meets this week with its Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) to solicit menu ideas. I’m hopeful – but not overly optimistic – that our input will be considered seriously and not rejected out of hand as too expensive, too impractical or unlikely to appeal to students. (I’ll let you know what happens.)
In anticipation of the meeting I’ve looked at, among other things, the recipes used by Chef Ann Cooper, aka the Renegade Lunch Lady who revolutionized school food in the Berkeley ISD and is now doing the same in Boulder, CO. Speaking for myself, this is the kind of food I’d like to see offered at my children’s school — healthy, fresh offerings cooked from scratch and — though kid-friendly — pushing children’s palates beyond pizza and burgers.
But then I think of the enormous student population within HISD, representing every ethnicity and socioeconomic level and coming from every conceivable background with respect to food. There are kids who’ve never had a sip of non-organic milk in their lives and there are kids who, but for HISD, wouldn’t eat breakfast or lunch. And many of them, if they have been participating in the lunch program to date (or just by virtue of being kids in today’s America) may be accustomed to eating nothing but the fast food array I described in an earlier post.
When I once asked Ann Cooper if kids were initially resistant to her healthier food, she laughed and replied, “Kids will not starve themselves.” But as much as I want to see some radical changes in our school food and as much as I want to believe Ann Cooper, there’s some evidence to the contrary.
I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve read that at Central City Elementary, where Jamie Oliver conducted his Food Revolution, the school has reintroduced its regular menu because the “Food Revolution” meals were so unpopular. Even in Ann Cooper’s old Berkeley district, apparently the veggies are often passed up by kids. And because of the “offer vs. serve” system discussed previously, kids will always have the option to skip right over unfamiliar or challenging new food items (or to simply toss them in the trash.)
Then I read this article from Los Angeles magazine about one charter school’s attempt to institute an Alice Waters Edible Schoolyard program. From what I can glean, this was a pretty small, upscale school population (they pay $5 for the lunch and one kid was described as so picky that “he only ate prosciutto for six months.” Prosciutto!) and both the parents and the administration worked closely with the students to teach them about the new food and encourage experimentation. Even so, it was still a long, uphill battle to get these kids to eat it.
So, in a school district as large and diverse as my own, with 79% of the children on free/reduced lunch, are healthier lunch options just destined for the trash can?
Let me know your thoughts. Maybe you’ll send some optimism my way. . .
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Bettina Elias Siegel
Kristin says
I believe that schools exist to teach our children how to be healthy, productive individuals and just because a child doesn’t like something, it doesn’t mean the lesson should be compromised. Would you water down a math class because the child doesn’t like it? Meal-time should also be a classroom. It should teach children how one should eat even if they prefer not to eat it at this time. Like you said in your “about” section, you often did not want to eat what your mother offered as a child, but today you know that something rubbed off and as an adult, you are a healthy, conscious eater.
Regarding the issue of having to keep up participation in the school lunch program, I have to ask the question, “why?” I thought the school lunch program existed for children who needed it. If there are families who choose not to participate, then those families really did not need it. They could choose to bring their lunch and the program can scale-down to the point where it would actually be easier to provide fresh lunches. I agree, a child will not starve himself and if he chooses to pass up the veggies then is that any worse than consuming microwave pizza? At lease he will eat SOMETHING from a fresh menu rather than everything from a fatty and preservative-laden menu and over time, I truly believe a child will develop different tastes. Even if my child passes up the fresh broccoli every time it is offered, at least it is on his plate, staring at him, letting him know subliminally that it SHOULD be eaten. Perhaps when he grows up, all that brainwashing will kick in and he will naturally know how to eat healthy, just like you did.
bettina elias siegel says
Kristin:
Thank you for commenting here and I totally agree with so much of what you’ve written. The only thing I might take issue with is this:
“I thought the school lunch program existed for children who needed it. If there are families who choose not to participate, then those families really did not need it. They could choose to bring their lunch and the program can scale-down to the point where it would actually be easier to provide fresh lunches.”
I’m not sure the economics really work that way, but I freely admit that the money side of the school lunch program has been the hardest for me to grapple with and I’m still not there yet. I plan to address this issue in the near future and will use your quote as a springboard for discussion.
Thank you again!
Bettina
AGeorgsson says
I think kids are more picky nowadays because their taste buds have been trained to like processed food. I don’t know how we are supposed to hit the reset button.
Karen says
My daughter will most certainly starve herself if the food served is not to her liking. Usually this happens at school or at friends’ houses. Then she comes home and eats like a horse – I know how to prepare a nutritionally balanced meal that she likes. I would estimate that half of her lunches go uneaten – these are lunches that we pack, but she disdains food that is not “fresh.” Whatev! as the kids say these days.
I heard this morning that our daily caloric expenditure has decreased by a factor of 3 just because we no longer do the normal household chores of preparing our own food, etc. Our children lead lazy lives and they’re just not that hungry. Read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Farm Boy” to see how kids ate 150 years ago.
Hungry Kids Eat says
Kids who are hungry will eat. Any child on reduced or free lunch who is throwing that lunch away needs to have her/his eligibility reviewed.
I read about an 18-year-old who was whining because she got a cheese sandwich and a carton of milk for lunch — that child was not hungry — a hungry child would have eaten it and been grateful.
Our reduced price and free lunch programs have become a scam on the taxpayer. I have been told by an employee in the school system that they tell parents to bring in the very lowest monthly income record so they can get these meals no matter when their income is for the rest of the year.
I guess that way the parents can have their cigs and beer and the kids can eat chips and cake at home to their hearts’ content.
Sara says
I know this thread is old but I have to comment because I am shocked by the comments stated here. Free and reduced lunch is needed for those kids who come from low-income families. Your judgments about their parents behavior is unfair and unfounded. Let’s judge your behavior. A federally funded lunch program must be nurtitious, but it also must be eaten, otherwise, what’s the point. When we were kids, we ate what was put in front of us b/c we had no choice. My mom used force to make me eat (although our obese dog helped me out on many occasions). It is much more healthy for kids to have control, agency, and choice over what they put in their mouth. Given choices over time, they should learn how to regulate both more and less healthy food. School is not necessarily the best place to learn this. Instead, the school meal needs to be palatable and eaten. Kids are in school for more than 6 hours each day. To criticize the parents of children who require food assistance is insensitive. If you want a different meal than the school lunch, pack your own, like I do for my kids, as they insist. School lunch has become so expensive for the full fare parent, it is much more cost effective to make your own. I know many kids who would live with cramps rather than eat food like spinach or curry sauce, which all got thrown out this week at my school, which has restyled meals, which are awful, and much of the food gets tossed.