It’s the last day of school here in Houston ISD and if you’re a parent, I don’t need to tell you how busy I’ve been this week with various end-of-year activities and celebrations. There’s been little time for blogging, but I wanted to share a few things and let you know what’s coming up in the weeks ahead on The Lunch Tray.
First, I wanted to belatedly report that I had a wonderful time last week at PS 107 in Brooklyn. I spoke on a panel with Michael Moss, author of the best-selling Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us; Liza Engelberg, Director of Education at Edible Schoolyard NYC; and Nancy Romer of the Brooklyn Food Coalition. The discussion was moderated by John Donahue, New Yorker cartoonist, editor and the blogger at Stay at Stove Dad. NYC City Councilman Brad Lander also dropped by and I had a chance to meet PS 107 parent Susan Tang, blogger of the now inactive but much-loved Little Ladies Who Lunch. We had a free-wheeling and stimulating discussion about all sort of food issues, from the broader problems with our food supply and food injustice, to micro-issues like cupcakes in the classroom. I especially want to thank Susan Quinn, one of the event’s organizers, for inviting me to speak.
I also wanted to share an update on “Mr. Zee’s Apple Factory,” my recently-released kids’ video about processed food and advertising. I was honored to be asked to blog about the video — and why I created it — on both the Food Day blog and on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. The former post also appears today on Civil Eats, a respected source for food policy news. Even more exciting, Mr. Zee is on the cusp of reaching 10,000 views on YouTube, which was my personal goal for the video. Thanks to all of you for sharing the video on Twitter and Facebook!
Looking ahead, the blog posting schedule on TLT will slow down a bit as it does each summer, but I’ll continue to post here regularly. And with the school year behind us, I want to turn from the school food issues often discussed here to some other topics, including the all-important family dinner. I’ll soon be sharing with you information about an exciting new family dinner initiative started by Aviva Goldfarb at The Six O’Clock Scramble, and I’ll also ask for your help for a TLT reader who’s looking for some reliable weeknight dinner options.
Also, now that I have a little more free time, I’ll be digging into my teetering pile of bedside reading. Lots of authors have sent me their newly released food-related books, so be on the lookout for more book reviews and giveaways over the summer.
Finally, in the coming days I’m also going to ask you a small favor. After blogging on TLT for three (!) years, I’m feeling the need to freshen things up a bit and I want to make sure I’m fulfilling all your kid/food blogging needs. (Did you even know you had kid/food blogging needs? 🙂 ) To that end, I’m going to post and send out a short reader survey and I hope you’ll take a few minutes to fill it out and let me know how I’m doing.
Happy summer, TLT’ers!
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Aviva Goldfarb says
Wow, you’ve been busy! So excited that Mr. Zee’s has almost 10,000 views, that’s so amazing. I’m sure it’s only getting started. Thanks so much for the shout out to the Family Dinner Challenge and the Six O’Clock Scramble, too Bettina!