The Public School Lunch Fiasco

To be fair, this is not directed towards the schools themselves, but rather the mandates that are handed down to them.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution was more of a "revelation". Sure, I loved the show and it pointed to weak areas in the school lunch program...but as the show progressed you noticed it was more about food choices, availability, genes, culture, and economics outside of the school system than the actual school food itself!

In public school most children, if not all, are NOT overweight and/or unhealthy because of their food choices at school. Even before the government started changing the requirements of school lunch (and breakfast) when have you EVER known a person that became overweight, obese, or unhealthy solely because of their school lunch or breakfast? We were eating long before we started kindergarten so lets not be so bold as to say the school system is responsible for our food choices and health...But maybe they should be held responsible for trying to force their "solution" to the problem on us! In essence they are now guilty of diminishing our freedom, right?

[start satire] Let's recap what we have learned the last few years from reading the daily headlines. I think we will find that maybe, just maybe problems with our schools lunches may indeed be created by the school system itself!

• Bad lunches, not enough calories, and absurdities created by the overhaul. Google: "School Lunches Michelle Obama" 
• PE (physical education) now consists of mostly non-physical activity because of "unfairness", injury, bullying, competition(that encourages a "negative" aggression?)...et cetera. Or, we have given electives to opt out of PE.
• Parents complaints of school having so much homework the kids never get to play outside before it gets dark! [although depending on your research and statistics you use, this is considered a myth. Not that it doesn't happen, but that the percentage is less than 13%]

So help me figure this out, we take away almost all the physical from "physical education". Then we burden our kids with so much homework there's no time to play outside. But now we are concerned with their health enough to reconstruct school lunches with lackluster choices and poor calorie content? Of course! They no longer need high calorie content because they have very little physical activity during and after school! (Unless of course you are involved in school sports!) But wait! There's more! Maybe BECAUSE they took away so much physical activity in PE and gave them so much homework THAT'S when those prior high calorie school lunches started giving our children health problems, weight gain, and sluggish school performance? [end satire]

As in most situations its easy to complain, be the critic, and rant over a perceived injustice without actually being part of the solution or offering to help! SO here are a few suggestions towards a more suitable solution to this problem...

WHAT IF?

• What if we put the physical back in physical education and make it mandatory (no opting out unless its medical)...thirty minutes to an hour of exercise does not have to be competitive, unfair, or allow for bullying. Remember jumping jacks, squats, running in place, using the medicine ball...? 
• Decrease the amount of homework to promote more after school physical activity and school sports? [Won't we get more productive results on school work done IN SCHOOL when the body is well fed and invigorated?] 
• And last, but not least...remove as much processed food from school lunch as we can while maintaining the calorie count of "yesterday". [More Jamie Oliver, less Michelle Obama]

If food doesn't taste good and its not an enjoyable choice for children, its thrown in the trash! Wasted food, wasted money! We still have the freedom to pack their lunch, but if we don't start fighting somewhere they may start regulating that!

School In Session! Chicken and Waffles

Going into my third year of the newly started lunch program here at Valley Fellowship Christian Academy (k5-12) and Little Valley Academy (infant to k4) I decided to start sharing some posts from  a work perspective. 

In the past I have done a bit of everything which helps educate and make one a well rounded food service professional. Starting a school lunch program from scratch started a new chapter in my "cook book". Now that we are in it a couple of years I thought it would be nice to share some plates and thought process. 

Above is a meal for Little Valley Academy. Its a play on that classic, chicken & waffles. Most of the kids that will eat this are between 1 and 4 years old. It includes crispy chicken tenders (oven baked, not fried), small waffles that I cut into 4 sticks (Aunt Jemima brand), a fruit cup, Mrs. Buttersworth syrup in condiment cup (tastes like butter is already in it, older kids will actually get real butter pats), and a pack of ketchup. We add ketchup because the kids may still want to eat their chicken tenders without syrup. Depending on fruit prices the cup could be 4 ounces of tropical fruit mix from a can, or fresh fruit. I don't like to use fruit cocktail, the color of the fruit seems to all blend together and the fruit itself can be near mush consistency. If I won't eat it or I wouldn't feed it to my kids, I am pretty sure I won't feed it to your kids!

Next month we will try it with the academy (K5-12). The plate usually graduates as it goes up the grades...bigger portions, more condiments (like real butter), larger size waffles, and not cut into sticks.

Mama's & Daddy's give me some feedback on what your children like to eat...what do you think they would order at school...is this a dish you would order for your child? Menu suggestions...

LIBRARY! The Poor Person's Internet?

LIBRARY = FREE! Go get a library card!  If you haven't already done it, SHAME ON YOU! It's FREE and remains free as long as you can get all your items back in on time, or renew them.

What's available for check-out at the Library today?

• Books, of course! I found culinary books that were released this year! 
• Magazines
• DVD's
• CD Rom - computer software
• Free internet use, and free Wi-Fi (most libraries today even small ones!)
• Free lectures like the one I attended: 'Myths in Food Nutrition Today' hosted at the library by a woman who had multiple degrees in nutrition and diet.

Here are a couple of examples of how to use a library:

• I have found instructional DVD's from Jacques Pepin to Julia Child cooking and technique.
• I surf thru http://ecookbooks.com and http://amazon.com to read reviews and see what culinary books I would want next and then find 80% of them at my local library! (that saved me some money!)
• When obtaining the culinary resources I want I 'check-in' online and reserve or request books from other branches - an alert is emailed to me when to pick them up!
• Some libraries have online resources for downloading audio, video, and pdf/digital books.
• Food & Wine related magazines that are up-to-date (they have monthly subscriptions at the Library) for example Savour, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Taste of Home, Food & Wine...
• Sometimes an additional used book store (in, or attached to the library) that sells used books and magazines for pennies on the dollar. In the age of new technology where people are purchasing more books in digital format, I am finding excellent, classic, high-dollar books (of all genre) by the dozens in the library used book stores.

Above (in the picture) I found On Food And Cooking by Harold McGee $2, Yes two dollars! The Soul Of A Chef by Michael Ruhlman $0.50, fifty cents! I had previously purchased these books a long time ago, read them, and re-read them and then passed them on to others. I may re-read The Soul Of A Chef and even keep On Food And Cooking for reference in my library, but at this price, I would gladly buy them and give them away again!

What All Libraries Have Today This link goes to a government site that explains in more detail than my brief listing above what can be found at your local library. One of the greatest FREE resources on the planet that dates back BEFORE the internet and still includes the internet.  GET YOUR LIBRARY CARD TODAY!