Revamping the School Lunch Program
By Shawn Dell Joyce
As our children go back to school, many parents grow increasingly more concerned about the school lunch program. Most school lunches cost between $2.50 and $3, with government subsidies through the United States Department of Agriculture, public schools receive $2.57 for a free lunch, $2.17 for a reduced-price lunch and 24 cents for a paid lunch. This adds up to about $9 billion total to feed 30 billion children each year. Ironically, most of this money pays the janitor, cafeteria expenses and other nonfood costs as well as lunch.
So what do our kids get for $2.57?
“(Meals) distributed by the National School Lunch Program contains some of the same ingredients found in fast food, and the resulting meals routinely fail to meet basic nutritional standards.” Pointed out Alice Waters, chef and local foods activist, and Katrina Heron, director of Chez Panisse Foundation. “Yet this is how the government continues to “help” feed millions of American schoolchildren, a great many of them from low-income households.”
Waters and Heron started the Edible Schoolyard, a program of the Chez Panisse Foundation, on a one-acre organic garden for urban public school students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. This program connects kids with their food by teaching them all aspects of growing, harvesting, and preparing nutritious, seasonal produce. This school still uses the high fat U.S.D.A. commodities, but it also cooks food from scratch, and has added organic fruits and vegetables to the menu as well.
Most schools don’t actually have a real kitchen anymore, or a staff who can actually cook. Foods distributed through the school lunch program are already processed and cooked chicken nuggets, pizza that just needs to be thawed or heated. Schools also receive bonus commodities from big food producers of processed cheese and other high-fat, low-nutrition junk foods.
Parent organizations have sprung up across the country to demand more nutritious foods in public schools like Two Angry Moms, and Better School Foods. Other schools across the country are integrating gardens into their curriculum, or partnering with local farms to grow produce specifically for the schools.
So what would it cost to revamp the school lunch program to include fresh organic produce from local farms?
“It could be done for about $5 per child, or roughly $27 billion a year, plus a one-time investment in real kitchens,” notes Waters and Heron in a recent New York Times editorial. While that may sound expensive, it pales in comparison to long term health benefits, lowered juvenile diabetes and obesity rates, and better dietary habits for life. As parents, our choices are pay for the cost though better quality school lunches or higher medical bills later.
A side benefit of linking local farms with school lunches is that it will boost local economies rather than leak money out of the school’s community. Most small farms rely on sound farming practices that don’t significantly damage local ecosystems, unlike large scale food growers.
“Every public school child in America deserves a healthful and delicious lunch that is prepared with fresh ingredients.” Writes Waters and Heron. “Cash-strapped parents should be able to rely on the government to contribute to their children’s physical well-being, not to the continued spread of youth obesity, Type 2 diabetes and other diet-related problems. Let’s prove that there is such a thing as a good, free lunch.”
Want to change the National School Lunch Program? A few suggestions from www.BetterSchoolFoods.org:
—Have Lunch with Your Child in the School Cafeteria -Experience with your eyes, nose, ears and mouth what your kids are eating. Ask to see ingredient lists for all the food on the menu.
—Grow Your Numbers -Invite other parents in the community to join you in the cafeteria who might not have been aware of what the kids are eating.
—Join a Committee or Coalition-Get involved with the nutrition committee in your school or a wellness committee in your district. Create one if none exist.
Build Your Food IQ -Learn which foods are right for your family – not all foods are good for everyone!
—Cook with Your Kids-Read books, takes classes, watch cooking shows. Be adventurous and try new foods, test recipes. Make it a family project.
—Grow Some Food in a Garden -Get your kids connected to their food. Create and participate in school gardening and cooking classes that produce real food. Connect the dots between our environmental crisis and our food crisis.
—Call Congress-Let them know you support legislation to get advertising and junk food out of schools, and a Farm Bill that supports small farmers and local markets. Let’s flood our schools with fresh fruits and vegetables.
—Walk Your Talk as a Family-Eat dinner together whenever possible.
Don’t Give Up! Our children’s health and well-being needs to be our top priority. Take a stand and get involved. Don’t assume someone else will.
Shawn@zestoforange.com
Tags: Shawn Dell Joyce
