“President Obama has pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015.” Talk about an ambitious goal! With two-thirds of its budget dedicated to food assistance, the USDA is the department with primary responsibility for orchestrating this change. At a press conference this morning USDA Secretary Vilsack asked for a $1 billion more a year to fund healthier school lunches.
Pinch me ’cause I must be dreaming. Remember back in the early '90s? The USDA used “science” and “guidance” from agribusiness to create the food pyramid.
Time to Rebuild the Food Pyramid
The original food pyramid had a host of problems: too little focus on whole grains; emphasis on meat as a primary protein source when beans are an appropriate replacement; no mention of fats and sweets.
So it is fascinating to see a USDA press release that discusses a study, from the Institute of Medicine, expressing deep concern over major gaps in children’s nutrition. Gaps that most reasonable adults and even some kids would agree with:
“The study commissioned by USDA noted that children are eating far less dark green and dark orange vegetables and fruits than they need, far more refined grains and far too few whole grains, and too few low fat or non-fat dairy products. This trend unfortunately puts children at increased risk for a variety of obesity-related conditions like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and high blood pressure.”
That’s right. The USDA is suggesting that kids need to eat more plants. And not just any plants but dark green ones, like spinach. As USDA Secretary Vilsack noted this morning, our children are at risk. Or beyond: One-third of kids are overweight.
Many children sit out school lunch programs so they won’t be stigmatized by their friends. That’s heart-wrenching because school lunches for many may be the one chance for good nutrition that they have in a given day.
According to Senator Kirsten Gillebrand’s website, in the “typical school lunch, a child may have chicken nuggets, chips, canned peas and canned fruit cocktail. Under this new plan, a student could have grilled chicken breast on a seven-grain roll, steamed broccoli and a fresh fruit cup.” (For a typical school meal, click here)
Plants Work for Popeye
So a focus on fruits and vegetables is a logical choice. As nutritionist Jared Koch wrote in his book Clean Plates “have you every heard of anyone being overweight or getting heart disease or cancer from eating too many vegetables?”
But before we get on our high horse it’s important to remember that food still has to taste good. Otherwise, prepare for riots in lunchrooms across America. The students at tony boarding school Hotchkiss savaged Alice Waters when she came to speak this spring. Turns out she was a lightning rod for criticism because school officials two years earlier had started fazing out junk food. Her poetic descriptions of the perfect tomato bumped up against teens’ need for Clodhoppers candy. Boy, were they pissed.
A Billion Dollars Buys Real Change
There appears to be a sustained move to get fast food and Snickers bars out of schools. Serving more than 31 million children in more than 100,000 schools across the country every school day, the USDA has huge power—with Congressional approval—to shape food policy and dietary practices in this country for years to come. Here at Friend of the Farmer we would like to see part of that huge budget dedicated to helping small and midsize farmers supply schools and institutions in their backyard. Can’t get more local or nutritious than that.