Green Options » school lunches

Greening Hollywood: Social Justice 4 Kids

Paige Donner — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:47:10 +0000

School lunches are a social justice issue for children in our country today. Sugar is our nation’s biggest addiction, after oil.

And sugar, coupled with poor nutrition, is just as debilitating. A poor diet, one that is preservative rich and nutrient poor, causes kids to feel sluggish, perform poorly and addles their brains. This is referred to as the “achievement gap” because it generally affects children of lower-income households.

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Will the Feds Finally Boot Junk Food From Public Schools?

Derek Markham — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:26:53 +0000

Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) is introducing a bill to Congress that would finally get junk foods out of our schools, addressing skyrocketing childhood obesity rates and bringing school nutrition standards forward 40 years.

“Despite pockets of progress in some states and school systems, most schools make junk food readily available to children. But junk food in schools helps fuel an epidemic of obesity and diabetes in children. And, it undercuts the considerable federal investment we make in the healthy school lunch program.” - Margo Wootan, Center for Science in the Public Interest nutrition policy director

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School Lunches 2: The Promise of Feeding Kids Well and Saving the World.

Carla Wise — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:07:18 +0000

In my last post, I suggested that school lunches are a reflection of our society’s crazy relationship to food. And there is no doubt that evidence for what Michael Pollan has called our “national eating disorder” can be found in many school cafeterias. I stopped by my daughter’s school yesterday at lunch time to see what they were serving, and I felt discouraged. The noodle turkey bowl and cheese pizza options both looked creepy. At least they have a salad bar, and milk.

But just as awareness is growing about food issues in general, people all over the country are trying to change school food into something we actually WANT our children to eat. So far, these efforts are local, occurring mostly by school or district. But they show that change is possible, and provide some great inspiration to parents and others who want to make things better.

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School Lunches 1: Shedding Some Light on “Hot Lunch.”

Carla Wise — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:03:22 +0000

I have to admit that my 3rd grader doesn’t eat school lunches. She has tried what the kids call “hot lunch” exactly 3 times in her entire public school career. She doesn’t like them. At all. Every morning, I fix her lunch, and although I sometimes grumble a little, I am glad to get to choose what she can eat for her midday meal.

But lately, I have been thinking a lot about those hot lunches. For one thing, they feed a lot of children. Many of my daughter’s friends eat them frequently or always. In 2006, more than 30 million children in the U.S. each day ate school lunches. And the school lunch program has been all over the news lately. From downer cows that end up in our kids’ lunches to efforts in districts across the country to combat obesity and bad eating habits in school cafeterias, school lunches seem to be a metaphor for all the bigger issues about food in America today.

Depending on who you talk to, school lunches might be described as anything from a program that nourishes our kids

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