Last week I received this email, which perfectly expresses the dismay many parents feel when they first venture into the world of public school food:
Recently my son started all day Kindergarten. I was extremely concerned when I looked at the menu for his school lunches and showed my husband. In addition, I’ve noticed that he’s coming home everyday with a dum dum in his back pack and all this week he’s told me that they’ve either had rice krispy treats or cheetos for snacks. We’re not super health food freaks but we do limit the amount of nasty stuff our kids can eat. I send him a healthy lunch 4 out of the 5 days of the week because he doesn’t want to eat the school lunch. My concern is the other children who cannot afford healthy meals and have no choice but to eat the crap the school is serving for lunch and breakfast. I would like to do something but I don’t know what. Where would you suggest I start?
It’s such a basic question, yet a such a huge one. How can one single parent bring about change? As I usually do when confronted with big school food issues, I asked myself:
WWJPMQCACEBDSRD?
What’s that you say? You’re not familiar with this abbreviation? Allow me translate: What would the people I most admire in the school food reform arena — Janet Poppendieck, Mrs. Q, Chef Ann Cooper, Ed Bruske, and Dr. Susan Rubin — do?
And then, readers, I had a really radical idea. What if I just . . . you know, asked them?
Well, within less than twelve hours, all five of these very busy people kindly agreed to sign on and assist me in helping this Lunch Tray reader figure out where to start. So in the coming days, I’ll do my best to answer this reader’s question and then each of these school food experts will also chime in, pointing out ideas I’ve missed, directing her to other resources, or whatever else they want to share.
I like to think of them as a team of School Food Superheroes, and that our collective posts could serve as a great resource for any parent wondering how to make a difference. So stay tuned for Part One of my answer to the reader, coming later this week . . . .
PS: All characters depicted above are TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. (I used to be Spidey’s lawyer — really! — and old habits die hard.)
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Excellent idea, Bettina. I think you’re smart to assemble this as a how-to package for parents staring down that big “what can I do” question?
There are two resources that I know have been very helpful to my blog readers and friends who have launched school-food campaigns. They may well be mentioned by your panel of experts (especially Susan Rubin, since she was involved with both), but just in case! They are:
http://www.angrymoms.org/getstarted.php
http://www.betterschoolfood.org/what_you_can_do/action_plan.cfm
Looking forward to reading along.
Another excellent resource is Slow Food USA. Their Slow Food in Schools program is tailor made for parents who care about the school food environment.
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/in_schools_detail/get_started/
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