Ask a group of school kids about "mystery meat" and they may have no idea what you're talking about, not if they're on the feeding end of national and local efforts to transform school lunch programs. A genuine movement is afoot at schools to create better, more nutritional meals for kids using produce from local farmers, and in many cases, from gardens the students help create and maintain themselves.
Forty-six states now have farm-to-school programs, many of which are bearing fruit. More than a million school-age children in New York City's public schools are eating four times the amount of apples than they ever have because of a new partnership with local apple producers. In Chicago, 300,000 kids in public schools eat locally-produced vegetables in school lunches year-round. And in Atlanta, 81,000 students in the public school system will soon enjoy the gardens being planned for each school, and a wellness curriculum that integrates their harvesting.
And to the cheers of many farmers and families, on December 13th, President Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which expands federal funds for school lunches and designates $40 million to farm-to-school initiatives. These programs require local innovation and collaboration, not just between farms and schools, but between state agencies, non-profits, and community volunteers (depending on how they are funded).
Michelle Ratcliffe, Farm-to-School Program Manager for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, emphasized that the movement is about more than switching ingredients. "Procure, promote, and educate," she said, "It's not enough to have local produce if the kids and the parents don't know about it."
Interested in the pioneering folks leading the way?
-- Lizzie Simon, The Daily Meal
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As Slow Food USA's president Josh Viertel recently described it, "Students said, ‘If our college campuses aren’t going to start buying local, organic, sustainable food, then let’s train ourselves how to set up co-operatives so that we can support the local farming community and feed ourselves. Now, they are training each other, and it works really well. I’ve seen students make incredible things happen. In fact, I would say that students are always a core part of a successful social movement. They are creating a different future.” http://politicsoftheplate.com/?p=768
Let's build a stronger food justice movement for all youth, and today's healthy-eating K-12 school kids will be tomorrow's university food sustainability leaders!
http://www.angrytrainerfitness.com/2011/01/kids-and-food-the-new-school-rules/
Back in grade school during the 60's, obesity was an anomaly. Every class had a "fat kid", and usually just one, maybe two. Today, it's the norm, or close to it. And it seems to be most prevalent with girls, hitting them hard with flabby midsections.
I'd love to see more programs such as this one take hold and become more widespread.
http://loudfartnoremorse.blogspot.com/2011/02/notes-from-food-revolution-part-one-of.html
I was pleasantly surprised, considering I was looking for something to complain about at the moment. It's nice to see that Ketchup is no longer considered a side dish, courtesy of the Reagan years. :)
But seriously, I'm biased: I work for Portland Public Schools, and don't know anything about any of those other places. But PPS has pretty great school lunches. And a salad bar with a wide variety of fresh fruits and veggies in every single school cafeteria. And the kids actually eat from the salad bars. I'm not saying there's no room for improvement, but they're obviously trying hard, and it shows.
Some here may say this is a good thing, but I say nay, you are taking away a spice of life from these kids. Get out of their cafeteria and let them eat what they want.