Nutritious school lunches on the way?

We’ve all heard the whining—the peculiar tastes and textures, the wilting vegetables, the unidentifiable meat products. It’s been fodder for lunchtime conversations and amateur comedians alike. It’s warm, it smells funny, and it may or may not be entirely edible. It’s cafeteria food. However, due to renovations of school lunch programs, both locally and abroad, these complaints just might become a thing of the past.

Over the past few years, school districts have begun to introduce fresh, locally grown produce, whole grains, and free-range meats into their lunch programs. The Berkeley School District, with Chez Panisse’s Alice Waters spearheading the effort, has become the poster child of this movement.

Jasper Eiler, Garden and Nutrition Educator at LeConte Elementary in Berkeley said that the food service has dramatically improved.

“There are fresh salad bars, and free range meats. They’re still using some surplus items and bad oils, but they’re moving away from hydrogenated oils toward healthier ones.”

Eiler has observed that the students at LeConte are very enthusiastic about the food. “Ninety-five percent of the kids are excited about what we serve. Cooking and gardening adds to their excitement.” Nevertheless, Eiler is disappointed in the students’ minimal salad consumption.

However, despite growing concerns in regard to childrens’ health, the question remains: will the kids eat it?

Some have reported that the changes to the food program were not particularly well-received at Malcolm X Elementary, but, according to Eiler, it was only the opinion of a few students, and was not a thorough study.

Although the success of the healthier food at Malcolm X is somewhat ambiguous, nutritional improvements have been decidedly unpopular at the Rawmarsh School in Rotherham, England. As a result of the badgering of Jamie Oliver, another celebrity chef, the British government has banned junk food from its schools. Students refused to eat the new foods. Parents, angry that they were being told how to feed their children, and that their children were now going hungry due to unappetizing foods, decided to fight for their children’s right to eat burgers. A group of mothers began selling junk food to kids during lunch, through the bars of the school gates. These mothers, known as the “meat-pie mums” became infamous in Britain.

Eiler still believes that it is important that nutritional problems be rectified. “Before, foods were highly processed, there were few fresh fruits and vegetables, there was no salad bar, the meats and milk had hormones and antibiotics, there were a lot of refined grains, and the vegetables they did serve were overcooked. They still are, to a degree—kind of limp and soggy.” One of the biggest problems he has seen with school nutrition is the lack of fiber and abundance of refined grains, which are “really just sugars.”

Eiler also believes that it’s important to educate children about nutrition, but not just to say “no.” “People like to say ‘no sugar, no meat,’ but saying ‘no, no, no’ just makes kids want to do it.” He encourages students to eat local, fresh fruits and vegetables, however, he is hesitant to use the word “organic”.

“The word’s too ambiguous. It’s been co-opted by big corporations.” Instead, he prefers he words “fresh” and “tasty.” “When it’s fresh, it tastes good. Kids can get turned off when it’s not fresh.”

With this increase of school lunches that are nutritious, and, as far as most are concerned, delicious, it may only be a matter of time before salads replace fish sticks in cafeterias throughout the country.

9 Responses

1. 7:46 AM on December 15th, 2006deshawn freemen:

   they be over pricing da food!

2. 12:44 PM on December 15th, 2006Rib B_Q:

   Mmm organic rib-BBQ sandwich

3. 10:53 AM on December 16th, 2006micah:

   that wanton soup is horrible…

4. 7:42 PM on December 18th, 2006Laquisha:

   Micah why would you buy WANTON SOUP?

5. 7:50 AM on December 20th, 2006deshawn freemen:

   lmao i feel yah laquisha i would never by that mess

6. 2:08 PM on December 21st, 2006holapeeps:

   dey shud hav a salad bar id b der al day

7. 11:43 PM on January 4th, 2007Lloyd McObrien:

   I agree with holapeeps, if there was an accessable salad bar, I too would be there all day.

8. 6:00 PM on January 10th, 2007Marc:

   hahaha Micah, it’s hecka good.

   When you’re hungry and want diarrhea.

9. 5:04 AM on July 30th, 2007AHs student:

   im not eating this foood.

Leave a Comment

All comments are moderated. If your comment contains profanity or libelous content, please don't waste our time.