On Sunday, the Houston Chronicle published a front page story about improvements to school food in Houston ISD and surrounding school districts. As a member of HISD’s Food Services Parent Advisory Committee (and public school parent) I was quoted in the story — and The Lunch Tray got a mention, too! You can read the story here.
As a compliment to this piece, I’ve written my own op-ed about the critical need for student education to ensure that all this new, improved food is actually eaten. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the Chronicle accepts the op-ed, but if not, I’ll share it here as a post. (Ah, the power of being able to “publish” with the touch of a button . . . .)
Dr. Susan Rubin says
Here’s an idea for a fun and effective strategy to improve school food in Houston. Invite all of your local readers to lunch! Not all at the same time, of course. Encourage every parent in your community to go and eat lunch in the cafeteria. Have them bring their cameras and do a restaurant type review of the food. Post them on your blog along with the photos. This is not a one time event, do this on a regular basis throughout the school year.
Most importantly, encourage other brown baggers to go and eat the food. They may not realize it, but their kids are equally impacted by this food environment. When they spend an hour in the cafeteria, they will likely see what I’m talking about!
Lunch Lady says
In response to the comments in the Chronicle article, I agree that schools need to acknowlege their impact on students eating patterns and preferences, but schools serving healthier pizza, along with veggies, fruit and low fat milk seems like a pretty good message. It is nothing like pizza-eating experiences outside of school. Kids typically eat pizza and drink soft drinks. They typically don’t eat fruits, veggies and drink milk with it. At school they are also learning portion control. They are served 1 piece of pizza. Outside of schools kids might eat multiple slices, again because it’s not part of a balanced meal with other components.
I appreciate that the article gave the schools a little bit of a positive overview. In most cases what is served through the lunch line is much more well-balanced than what is brought in from the outside. Sadly, it is probably the most well-balanced meal offered to them all day.