I’m a little late with the Notes From the Field feature this week — I guess all that Palin/school treats debate distracted me!
At any rate, I popped into my kids’ lunch room this week to check out two new menu items, sweet potatoes and a frozen fruit bar:
Unfortunately, as with the previously discussed acorn squash, none of the kids I talked to seemed to know what the sweet potato was, and therefore left it untouched. When I told them it was a sweet potato, one girl was interested in trying it and pronounced it “not as good as my mom’s, but OK,” which I take to be a fairly glowing review by kid standards.
So, again, I’m wondering why we can’t have a simple sign in the line (at kid eye-level) explaining what each item is or, better yet, why we can’t ask the lunch line workers to mention it now and then to the kids as they come through. Vegetable consumption can only go up if kids know what the vegetables are, right?
I was also surprised to see this Whole Fruit brand frozen fruit bar being offered. I know many of us would like to see fewer desserts on school lunch trays overall, but given the current USDA calorie requirements (which are high), dessert is not going away for the time being. That being the case, I’m so glad to see, in lieu of a chemical-filled Popsicle, a frozen bar made with real fruit and, I believe (based on the company’s website), only natural colorings like beet juice.
Two more examples of Houston ISD Food Services trying to do the right thing. Keep up the good work!
Dr. Susan Rubin says
Vegetable consumption will go up when everyone gets on the same page. Utilize the cafeteria as a classroom, tie it into curricula.
Grow some sweet potatoes and acorn squash in a school garden.. Integrate it into the math and science curriculum. In social studies, research the history of yams and winter squashes in the US and in other parts of the world.
Kids are not going to eat veggies because they are “good for them”, most grown ups still have problems with that one!