No longer the regular TLT feature it once was, I still like to serve up the occasional Friday Buffet to share kid-and-food news I didn’t get to during the week. . . .
Domino’s Continues to Grow Its School Food Market
Nothing really new here. My own district has long been selling nutritionally-rejiggered Papa John’s pizza as a profitable a la carte item. I hope to have a post soon on the prevalence of “better for you” pizza in schools — and what I think about it.
Hospitals Taken to Task for On-Site Fast Food
Corporate Accountability International recently took issue with twenty hospitals, including Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital, for having on-site McDonald’s restaurants. You might want to check out my previous post on this topic, which linked to an excellent article in Slate about the uncomfortable relationship between hospitals and McD’s. But also see the comments on that post, where many readers defended fast food in the health care setting.
Support Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Schools
Finally, the Center for Science in the Public Interest is sending around a petition urging USDA to continue its Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program which brings fresh produce to low-income schools. You can sign it here.
Have a great weekend, all. More Lunch Tray on Monday . . . .
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Leemore Kushner says
I was recently at the hospital, and was appalled to see that the carts selling food just outside the entrance were laden with the most unhealthy and processed foods, most of which were filled with partially hydrogenated oil and other questionable additives. Then in the waiting room, the water cups were styrofoam. Everything seemed just so unhealthy in a place that is supposed to be all about health. Needless to say, I contacted customer relations and, of course, there are budgetary reasons for the styrofoam and they claim that they have no control over the carts because those are privately owned. I really just loathe those types of excuses because of course they have control over the carts – their agreements with vendors should contain clauses requiring that the foods sold meet high nutritional standards. I can only hope that they took my suggestions to heart.
lindtfree says
I posted on the fast-food-in-hospitals issue in September 2011, but your post reminded me of a related concern.
I have been a Red Cross blood donor for over a decade. When I first started, I was disgusted by the selection in the post-donation canteen: most of the snacks were single-serving packages of Nabisco cookies (not only unhealthful, but owned by tobacco conglomerate Philip Morris), and many of the beverages were Coca-Cola products. I don’t drink soda or coffee and rarely drink fruit juice or tea, so I usually requested water, which was served in styrofoam cups. I didn’t expect the Red Cross to wash dishes, but why not paper cups?
More than ten years later, things have improved very slightly. The styrofoam cups remain, but Nabisco products no longer dominate the snack selection. The replacements aren’t much more healthful, but at least they aren’t owned by the tobacco industry! The only thing I usually eat, even though I don’t like them that well, are mini pretzels.
I know the Red Cross probably relies on corporate snack donations and can’t afford to feed all its donors fresh fruit or protein bars. Nonetheless, some more nutritious options would be much appreciated. The bottom line? Just as I bring my own books to medical appointments so I won’t have to read outdated mass-market magazines in waiting areas, I think I’ll start bringing my own food to the blood bank!
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Lindfree: I used to donate blood regularly in college – I’m ashamed I don’t do it as often anymore – and one of the things I and my friends loved about the experience, besides feeling like we’d done a good deed, were the tuna sandwiches made by the volunteers! (Don’t ask me why, but these were seriously good tuna sandwiches.) And then one day the sandwiches disappeared in favor of the sort of Nabisco snacks you describe. We were told it was due to sanitation/health code issues – the volunteers had been told they were required to serve packaged food.
At any rate, I think what you describe is really true of every situation in which a snack is provided these days, from soccer games to choir practices to workplace meetings. It’s just so much easier and cheaper to get a big box of “snack packs: at Costco than it is to buy, wash, cut up and store fruit, or bake something at home (and some people do worry about the sanitation issue in home kitchens, along with allergen cross-contamination), or prepare any other kind of fresh food. It feels ubiquitous to me and very hard to reverse.
Thomas says
I feel so sad after reading the article below. I would hope bloggers such as yourself would take more time to research what you are doing before you destroy people’s lives.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-12/-pink-slime-furor-means-disaster-for-u-s-meat-innovator.html
lindtfree says
One person’s innovation is another’s substandard business ethics. . .but regardless, Thomas, your post is off-topic.
SuperMom101 says
It certainly is an uphill battle. Here’s another surprising area that is truly disappointing…sports venues. Recently we were fortunate to change what was offered at our local baseball snack shack after a boy was so pre-diabetic the only item he could order from the snack shack was water.
A few moms and I worked with the league to add “healthier” options and it worked. Although, at the beginning, some adults kept putting the highly processed candy, etc. on the front shelf until they realized they could make more money with the other items.
As most of us know – the choices at the gyms, fields and courts are hot dogs, nachos with fake cheese, skittles, etc… Our local Whole Foods Market assisted with chili, 100% frozen fruit bars, First July Crackers, and we added a popcorn machine and trail mix. (The bags of proceseed, nameless-junk sat on the shelf in the back and for the times I was in there working I sold only a few bags.) They made a bigger profit than before. (We had famalies that were just visiting the park stop by…)
It was our children’s gym teacher that exposed that “sports” drinks that are nothing but colored, high fructose corn syrup with zero nutritional value.
There’s a bumper sticker that still makes me laugh:
If we are what we eat…are you cheap, fast and easy?
Best health to everyone.
EdT. says
Re: “Better for you” pizza. I have started eating more pizza lately (and no, not the large chain brands), and have found some pretty tasty ones, that I can “make to order”. My fave, right now: the small gluten-free pizza from ZPizza, with Thai peanut sauce, a mixture of ricotta and mozzarella cheese, and their special pepperoni and sausage.
Re: McD’s and hospitals. One of the few places IMO where I would look forward to the taste of McD’s is in a hospital – “hospital food” is about on the same level as “English cuisine”, in that both are oxymorons. HOWEVER – one of the hospitals where I found a McD’s was at St. Lukes/TMC, and interestingly enough I almost NEVER ate there when my mother was in the hospital. The reason: the hospital cafeteria put out some absolutely GORGEOUS food, running the gamut from treats like pizza and hot wings (I would still go to that hospital just to eat those wings) to an awesome salad bar. And, even though the McD’s was more conveniently located, I would head for the basement (especially on wing days!) and never, ever regretted it. (Note: other hospitals I have gone to, the food is bland, tasteless, textureless… sort of like one out imagine “meat jello” to appear to one’s palate.)
Re: packaged vs. home-made snacks. This doesn’t surprise me, not only from the liability end (it is easier to transfer the liability to a third party – the food mfgr – esp. when the insurance company and the lawyers insist on it), but also from the “it’s safer” aspect. As I noted in a comment on an earlier post, my parents (esp. my father) while no fast food fanbois at home, insisted on McD’s when we were on the road (either that, or truck stops – based on “if the truckers eat here, it MUST be safe.”) Their perception (right or wrong) was that keeping us kids healthy and free of “digestive distress” was an important thing, and offset the reduced nutritional value of fast food. We did the home-made goods for bake sales, but as you noted, people are getting more concerned about the condition of our kitchens, and to be honest I am surprised the local governments haven’t effectively banned their use to prepare ANY foodstuffs.
Have a good weekend!
~EdT.