Comments on: School food: it can be done!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:53:13 +0000

Having attended an affluent suburban public school, I can attest to the fact that money does not necessarily guarantee a 100% healthy cafeteria. While my school did provide fresh deli meats for sandwiches and a freshly-prepared hot meal (which varied each day), none of it was low-fat or low-calorie, and it was not necessarily the best quality meat. They sold apples and oranges that sat out, but these were not an appetizing alternative to the warm, gooey undercooked chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, chips, or salty soft pretzels that were also sold. Of course nobody would choose the warm fruit that had sat out all day when there was tastier food for the same price or less. We also had vending machines in our school. Until my senior year, when they changed our school policy and prohibited the selling of soda and any food with sugar as the first ingredient, these machines were turned on all day long and sold candy, chips, and pastries for $1.00 or less. Even my senior year, though, when the school tried to serve “healthier” food, unhealthy snacks and sugary juices were still sold in these vending machines. I never experienced my school food as being at all healthy in any sense. Although I have graduated, I would love to see healthier food options for the students still attending my high school. I would like to see school lunch programs that actually encourage healthy food.

By: Nic

Nic — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:36:10 +0000

I recently attended a talk by Secretary Vilsack where he mentioned that the USDA was going to promote a local foods into local schools program. Hopefully this means that there will be more actual food being served.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/09/0441.xml

By: Jill

Jill — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:45:13 +0000

fred – pun intended?

By: fred ralley

fred ralley — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:53:19 +0000

You can’t compare a K-9 school with a High School (Brooklyn Tech), different species.

By: meatlessmama

meatlessmama — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:39:21 +0000

Alessandra is right, in my kids’ schools the school lunch program consists of junk and fast foods.

By: Alessandra Barbadoro

Alessandra Barbadoro — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:43:45 +0000

Bad tasting food wasn’t the problem in my (affluent) high school in Colorado. It was the ever-present fast food option: “school lunch” versions of Domino’s, Taco Bell, Arby’s, and Chik-fil-A. Not to mention the little debbie cakes and spicy fries on the side.

By: Anthro

Anthro — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:29:08 +0000

” with exceptions for parent groups, parent-teacher associations, and birthday celebrations.”

What other reasons are there for having bake sales? I’m not sure birthdays are a reason to have a bake sale, a cake for the group, but why a bake sale on someone’s birthday? What good is a new rule if almost anything is excepted?

Now that I’ve said this, I recall that there was a bake sale going on at my polling place last November when I went to vote, but it wasn’t at a school, but rather a retirement apartment facility.