School Lunch Awareness Reaching Critical Mass

Astute observers would have noticed last week that School Lunch and the debate associated around it has seemed to reach a critical mass. Lets hope that policy makers follow what has now become a growing consensus among our citizens: the time for reform has come.

Did Jamie Oliver meet his match in ‘America’s Fattest City’?

When last we saw British superstar chef-turned-food-system-reformer Jamie Oliver, he was in the midst of teaching “the fattest city in America” how to cook. How did it go? Well, thanks to the miracle that is reality television, we’ll find out one episode at a time. The series—Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution—doesn’t premiere until the end of March. But ABC has provided us a sneak peak. Key takeaway? The recalcitrant residents of Huntington, West Virginia have driven poor Jamie to tears. Tom says check it out:

full article here via grist

Michelle Obama’s Anti-Obesity Movement

photo wikimedia commons

and there is no shortage of links to one of the biggest stories of the week:

“This isn’t the kind of problem that can be solved in one year, or even one administration,” said Michelle. But make no mistake about it, this problem can be solved. We don’t need to wait for some new invention of discovery to make this happen. This doesn’t require fancy tools or technologies. We have everything we need right now– we have the information, we have the ideas, and we have the desire to start solving America’s childhood obesity problem. The only question is whether we have the will.”

full article here via examiner.com
also see The Washington Post, abc news

and on to the relationship between the two above news items:

From Sesame Street to Iron Chef

Students marvel over a potato at the White House garden last fall. (Photo: ZUMA Press)

During the first lady’s recent visit to Sesame Street to help Elmo and some kids plant vegetable seeds, Big Bird asked if he had heard correctly that she eats seeds. Not exactly, she replied, but “I do eat what grows from these seeds.” She encourages the kids to eat all their vegetables, telling them that if they do, they’ll “grow up to be big and strong just like me.”

The garden also inspired a culinary showdown on an episode of Iron Chef America. Filmed partly at the White House, the contest paired White House chef Cristeta Comerford and Bobby Flay against the duo of Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse.

full article here via mother nature network

School Lunches: We Can Do Better Than $1 Per Meal

photo by SpecialKRB via flickr

Yet lack of funding isn’t the only problem. Many argue that the U.S.D.A. has a looming conflict of interest since one part of the agency is responsible with providing school children nutritious food and another helps agricultural companies sell surplus meat. One USA Today article reported that schools have received millions of pounds of meat from the government that wouldn’t even meet quality or safety standards of many fast-food restaurants. And a followup article reveals that the chicken sent to schools by the USDA are otherwise used in pet food and compost.

full article here via Huffington post

Mrs. Q and Fed Up: School Lunch Project Snowballs

photo by back_garage via flickr

Even after only a few weeks of posts, Fed Up paints a devastating picture of how the school lunch program is failing kids. Mystery meat, still-frozen fruit cups, “pizza” with cheese that separates into fat layers. Everything is individually wrapped and, if it’s hot, it’s been microwaved. Weird pairings are rampant: Pizza and pretzels? A hot dog, cookie, and Tater Tots? The pictures are disgusting enough, but the descriptions are even worse: “I guess the green beans had some kind of butter sauce. I didn’t taste a sauce but there was a little buttery residue on the bottom of the paper package.” Is this food supposed to be fueling the next generation?

link to story (mentions Ann Cooper)