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!

Returning Restaurant Food When Things Go Wrong!

I have spent many years in restaurant kitchens and I would tell you that if your order comes to the table and its incorrect I would do one of four things:

1. Eat it as is
2. Refuse to pay for it. 
3. Ask the plate to be redone properly as you asked for it, with new ingredients. (like if your steak was not cooked enough, do not accept the same steak back again after it was cooked longer, get a new steak cooked properly with new side items to go with it! -anything that's on the same plate-) 
4. Refuse it and pick something else off the menu.

The reasoning behind this is if your food goes back to the kitchen to be 'fixed' several things immediately increase exponentially:

• First and foremost if you do not eat it "as is" you will now be delayed in eating with the rest of your party, if that's not a problem, then continue on.
• The chance your food will be microwaved if its not cooked well.(not a problem? Continue...)
• When your food goes back into the kitchen how many people touch that plate? How many people are hovered over your food in the back? Was it handled incorrectly? What if someone coughed or sneezed over it? Does it get reheated or re-plated on or next to something you have an allergy to? Cross contamination from something passing over it? 
• Kitchen staff 'messing' with your food because you sent it back during a busy time thus slowing everybody down and making people mad. At this point whether you were right, and/or picky doesn't matter to the kitchen and wait staff. And you can't see behind those doors can you? (although with the increased awareness, restaurant guidelines, and lawsuits...this may be a very minuscule possibility)

The chance of these things happening to your food multiply each time it goes back. If the restaurant your eating at is "upscale", fancy, or "high end" enough, they would never take that plate back to fix it, and give it to you again. They would remake it from "scratch". They would only take it back to get it out of your way. Some corporate and franchise restaurants have guidelines about food returning so there's a chance your replacement would be made from "scratch". If in doubt, ask!

Of course there are some people who are going to abuse this to "scam" free food, or an extra plate...but not if the restaurant standard is to remove the "wrong" plate at the arrival of the "right" plate.

Your safest bet for delicious hot food that has been handled minimally and correctly was the first time it came out.

Parents Date Night - Restaurant Tips

As parents we want a nice quiet date night at the restaurant, child free! And yes, that does mean free from others kids as well. So the number one tip would be to sit away from families! BUT if by chance I can not arrange seating that is away from a rambunctious family of loud, crazy kids...then YES I will show grace and maybe even entertain them with a few funny faces or high fives if the situation calls for it. As a parent I understand kids are not programmable robots and pick the worst times to have the worst behavior and sometimes spiral to a meltdown because of exhaustion!

That being said, here are a few good tips I thought I would share that my wife and I practice:

• Leave the house early if possible. Between 4 and 5pm. If you have small kids then you are used to eating early anyways. 
• This allows you to be going the opposite way of work traffic, easy flow.
• There is usually not a waiting list at the restaurant already.
• You have the pick of seats before it gets busy.
• Make things easy on yourself and plan to use valet parking if available. A lot of malls or restaurant/shopping areas now have free valet. Just remember to put a good tip in the valets hand(when picking up the vehicle). Yes, budget it into your "going out'" or entertainment money. Do I do this a lot? No, but if its available and it makes life easier for one glorious night out...yes, do it!
• No matter what kind of seating you like remember tables next to serving/wait stations, the bathrooms, kitchen service doors, front/lobby door, and at the end of the bar are terrible choices. Most of these tables will have heavy traffic, drafts, smells, noise...et cetera.
• If you do eat later, or if the restaurant is already busy, REMEMBER most tables and booths that are around the bar area, but are separated from the rest of the restaurants tables/booths are almost ALWAYS first come first serve. Those are NOT the "seating" people are on the waiting list for...My wife and I usually walk right in and find a nice booth I like that is empty and slide right into it. Server usually shows up in minutes.
• As a last or first resort, (depends on your feelings of being seen sitting at a bar by your local church denomination) you can sit at the bar and eat dinner. Its only the two of you and you can sit and talk even closer than you could at a table or booth. Not to mention you can usually get your food faster and you always have someone within ten feet to service your every request.

These are just a few helpful suggestions that come to mind...What tips do you have that you can add to this list?