Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Do we know what is in Chicken nuggets?
McDonald's China defends chemical used in Chicken McNuggets
Damanick Dantes on July 6th reported that China is concered about an additieve in McDonalds's Chicken nuggest, tertiary Butylhydoquione, is toxic and has been shown in high doses to cause tumors in lab animals when administered in high doeses.
The article reports that the chemical is present in China and the US chickent nuggets. Both the Chinese and US health standards allow the addition.
Chicken nuggets are served on many school menus. Do we know what is really being fed to our kids?
Damanick Dantes on July 6th reported that China is concered about an additieve in McDonalds's Chicken nuggest, tertiary Butylhydoquione, is toxic and has been shown in high doses to cause tumors in lab animals when administered in high doeses.
The article reports that the chemical is present in China and the US chickent nuggets. Both the Chinese and US health standards allow the addition.
Chicken nuggets are served on many school menus. Do we know what is really being fed to our kids?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
DC put out Solicitations for Two Fresh Food Pilot Projects
DC has made some amazing strides in offering fresh, healty meals with local produce to its kids. They have put out two Requests for Proposals for Pilot Projecs. One for Portable Meals and the other From Scratch Meals.
Wouldn't it be great if Montomery County could adopt something similar?
Solicitations
Office of Contracts and Acquisitions (OCA)
•5/4/2010 - GAGA-2010-R-0098 - Food Services Pilot Program: Portable Meals
•5/4/2010 - GAGA-2010-R-0099 - Food Service Pilot Program: From Scratch Meals
Caption: Food Service Pilot Program: Portable Meals
Work Site Location: TBD
RFP Closing Date/Time: Friday, June 4, 2010 at 2:00 pm Eastern Time (AMENDED)
Synopsis:
The Office of Food Nutrition Services of the District of Columbia Public Schools is constantly seeking to improve nutritional standards, meal offerings, food quality, taste, and sustainability practices throughout all of our schools. As part of this effort we are seeking an innovative contractor to help us increase food quality and participation in schools facing challenges due to limited kitchen facilities.
•GAGA-2010-R-0098 Introduction to Request for Proposal
•GAGA-2010-R-0098 Request for Proposal
•J.1 Standard Contract Provisions
5/4/2010 - GAGA-2010-R-0099 - Food Service Pilot Program: From Scratch Meals
Solicitation Number: GAGA-2010-R-0099
Caption: Food Service Pilot Program: From Scratch Meals
Synopsis: The District of Columbia Public Schools, Office of Food Nutrition Services is constantly seeking to improve nutritional standards, meal offerings, food quality, taste, and sustainability practices throughout all of our schools. We are seeking a progressive vendor to help us increase food quality and participation in select schools and who has the experience and capability of serving high volume “from scratch” meals.
Wouldn't it be great if Montomery County could adopt something similar?
Solicitations
Office of Contracts and Acquisitions (OCA)
•5/4/2010 - GAGA-2010-R-0098 - Food Services Pilot Program: Portable Meals
•5/4/2010 - GAGA-2010-R-0099 - Food Service Pilot Program: From Scratch Meals
Caption: Food Service Pilot Program: Portable Meals
Work Site Location: TBD
RFP Closing Date/Time: Friday, June 4, 2010 at 2:00 pm Eastern Time (AMENDED)
Synopsis:
The Office of Food Nutrition Services of the District of Columbia Public Schools is constantly seeking to improve nutritional standards, meal offerings, food quality, taste, and sustainability practices throughout all of our schools. As part of this effort we are seeking an innovative contractor to help us increase food quality and participation in schools facing challenges due to limited kitchen facilities.
•GAGA-2010-R-0098 Introduction to Request for Proposal
•GAGA-2010-R-0098 Request for Proposal
•J.1 Standard Contract Provisions
5/4/2010 - GAGA-2010-R-0099 - Food Service Pilot Program: From Scratch Meals
Solicitation Number: GAGA-2010-R-0099
Caption: Food Service Pilot Program: From Scratch Meals
Synopsis: The District of Columbia Public Schools, Office of Food Nutrition Services is constantly seeking to improve nutritional standards, meal offerings, food quality, taste, and sustainability practices throughout all of our schools. We are seeking a progressive vendor to help us increase food quality and participation in select schools and who has the experience and capability of serving high volume “from scratch” meals.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
FARM TO SCHOOL IN THE HOUSE
http://www.farmtoschool.org/press-detail.php?press_id=31
2010/06/10
FARM TO SCHOOL IN THE HOUSE
National Farm to School Network Commends Introduction of Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010
WASHINGTON, DC (Thursday, June 10) House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) today unveiled his bipartisan Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 at the Capitol’s steps. The Chairman was flanked by Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA), Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) as well as celebrity chef Rachel Ray. The legislation is directed at dramatically improving the quality of meals children eat both in and out of school and in childcare settings, supporting community efforts to reduce childhood hunger and, for the first time, establishing nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools. The bill would increase spending by nearly $8 billion over the next ten years for child nutrition programs and includes several important school meal program improvements, including funding for Farm to School programs.
The National Farm to School Network applauds the leadership of Rep. Miller and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) in this critical legislation, which includes $50 million in mandatory funding for a Farm to School competitive grant program.
"The National Farm to School Network is poised for a truly historic moment and we thank Rep. Miller for providing leadership and including a first-time investment in Farm to School programs in the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010. By funding this innovative and effective program the Chairman will benefit America’s children and farmers through providing healthy foods and creating new markets,” stated Anupama Joshi, Co-Director of the National Farm to School Network.
"We applaud Rep. Miller's inclusion of mandatory funding for Farm to School in the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 as well as including language from Rep. Rush Holt’s Farm to School Improvements Act (H.R. 4710). By connecting schools with local farmers, the bill creates a win-win for our nation’s children and farmers and builds on a proven method of combating childhood obesity. As the Child Nutrition Reauthorization process continues to move forward, we look forward to continuing to work with the Chairman and members of Congress to provide $50 million for Farm to School programs and ensuring that a robust reauthorization addresses the needs of our nation’s children,” stated Marion Kalb Co-Director of the National Farm to School Network.
The legislation as introduced would create a competitive grant program housed at the United States Department of Agriculture. Schools, farmer organizations, and community groups would be eligible for assistance in improving school lunch by incorporating local and regionally grown foods into school meals, while also stimulating the local farm economy. A version of the child nutrition legislation is awaiting action on the Senate floor as well. Current child nutrition authorizations are set to expire on September 30, meaning Congress must act swiftly to take up and pass this important legislation.
The National Farm to School Network encourages a more direct connection between agriculture and federal nutrition at the local and regional levels and represents win-win scenarios for our country’s economy, agricultural community and children’s health. The following is a list of potential benefits that these programs can catalyze:
• Strengthen children’s and communities’ knowledge about, and attitudes toward, agriculture, food, nutrition and the environment.
• Increase children’s participation in the school meals program and consumption of fruits and vegetables, thereby improving childhood nutrition, reducing hunger, and preventing obesity and obesity-related diseases.
• Benefit school food budgets, after start-up, if planning and menu choices are made consistent with seasonal availability of fresh and minimally processed whole foods.
• Support economic development across numerous sectors and promote job creation.
• Increase market opportunities for farmers, fishers, ranchers, food processors and food manufacturers.
• Decrease the distance between producers and consumers, thus promoting food security while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and reliance on oil.
ABOUT: The National Farm to School Network
The National Farm to School Network improves student health by reducing childhood obesity, supports community-based food systems, and strengthens family farms. The Network is a collaborative effort of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College, and the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC). With funding in part from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Network coordinates, promotes, and expands Farm to School programs at the state, regional, and national levels. Eight regional lead agencies and national staff provide free training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support for policy, media, and marketing activities.
2010/06/10
FARM TO SCHOOL IN THE HOUSE
National Farm to School Network Commends Introduction of Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010
WASHINGTON, DC (Thursday, June 10) House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) today unveiled his bipartisan Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 at the Capitol’s steps. The Chairman was flanked by Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA), Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) as well as celebrity chef Rachel Ray. The legislation is directed at dramatically improving the quality of meals children eat both in and out of school and in childcare settings, supporting community efforts to reduce childhood hunger and, for the first time, establishing nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools. The bill would increase spending by nearly $8 billion over the next ten years for child nutrition programs and includes several important school meal program improvements, including funding for Farm to School programs.
The National Farm to School Network applauds the leadership of Rep. Miller and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) in this critical legislation, which includes $50 million in mandatory funding for a Farm to School competitive grant program.
"The National Farm to School Network is poised for a truly historic moment and we thank Rep. Miller for providing leadership and including a first-time investment in Farm to School programs in the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010. By funding this innovative and effective program the Chairman will benefit America’s children and farmers through providing healthy foods and creating new markets,” stated Anupama Joshi, Co-Director of the National Farm to School Network.
"We applaud Rep. Miller's inclusion of mandatory funding for Farm to School in the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 as well as including language from Rep. Rush Holt’s Farm to School Improvements Act (H.R. 4710). By connecting schools with local farmers, the bill creates a win-win for our nation’s children and farmers and builds on a proven method of combating childhood obesity. As the Child Nutrition Reauthorization process continues to move forward, we look forward to continuing to work with the Chairman and members of Congress to provide $50 million for Farm to School programs and ensuring that a robust reauthorization addresses the needs of our nation’s children,” stated Marion Kalb Co-Director of the National Farm to School Network.
The legislation as introduced would create a competitive grant program housed at the United States Department of Agriculture. Schools, farmer organizations, and community groups would be eligible for assistance in improving school lunch by incorporating local and regionally grown foods into school meals, while also stimulating the local farm economy. A version of the child nutrition legislation is awaiting action on the Senate floor as well. Current child nutrition authorizations are set to expire on September 30, meaning Congress must act swiftly to take up and pass this important legislation.
The National Farm to School Network encourages a more direct connection between agriculture and federal nutrition at the local and regional levels and represents win-win scenarios for our country’s economy, agricultural community and children’s health. The following is a list of potential benefits that these programs can catalyze:
• Strengthen children’s and communities’ knowledge about, and attitudes toward, agriculture, food, nutrition and the environment.
• Increase children’s participation in the school meals program and consumption of fruits and vegetables, thereby improving childhood nutrition, reducing hunger, and preventing obesity and obesity-related diseases.
• Benefit school food budgets, after start-up, if planning and menu choices are made consistent with seasonal availability of fresh and minimally processed whole foods.
• Support economic development across numerous sectors and promote job creation.
• Increase market opportunities for farmers, fishers, ranchers, food processors and food manufacturers.
• Decrease the distance between producers and consumers, thus promoting food security while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and reliance on oil.
ABOUT: The National Farm to School Network
The National Farm to School Network improves student health by reducing childhood obesity, supports community-based food systems, and strengthens family farms. The Network is a collaborative effort of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College, and the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC). With funding in part from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Network coordinates, promotes, and expands Farm to School programs at the state, regional, and national levels. Eight regional lead agencies and national staff provide free training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support for policy, media, and marketing activities.
Chicago remakes their school lunches and it didn't cost anymore.
This is great news. When Chicago wanted to change their school lunches they thought it would cost more, but when they got the bids in they were able to deliver better food FOR THE SAME COST, from the same vendors they are using now. They are also increasing the amount of local fresh fruit and veg.
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?articleId=33467
Q&A: The challenge of making Chicago's school lunches greener
Louise Esaian, right, is overseeing Chicago Public Schools' transition to higher nutritional standards.
In April, the Chicago Board of Education adopted new nutritional standards that make Chicago the first major school district in the country to try to surpass the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "gold standard" guidelines for school food. The district's 417,855 students, in 675 schools, will get more whole grains, fiber, legumes and dark green and orange vegetables, and less sodium and sugar. Locally grown produce gets a big push, too, something other Illinois school districts are assessing in light of the Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act of 2009, which aims to build a local-foods economy. Louise Esaian, 50, logistics officer at Chicago Public Schools, is overseeing the transition, which will start with the district's new food-service contract in June and ramp up come fall. We asked her for details, and what she thought of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution."
CRAIN'S: Why did CPS make these changes?
MS. ESAIAN: This journey began several years ago, when we made improvements like planning meals with zero trans fats, prohibiting the use of deep fryers, offering fresh fruit daily and eliminating whole milk. As a continuation of that, we convened a committee in fall 2009 to assess what we'd like our nutrition standards to look like in the future. The Institute of Medicine had recently released new guidelines for school breakfast and lunch programs. Later, the first lady announced her Let's Move! campaign, which included the USDA's gold-standard challenge. The timing couldn't have been more perfect.
How much will the changes cost?
We had anticipated that the cost was going to increase by about $3 million a year. But when we received the bids for our food service, it was cost-neutral. Next year we'll spend approximately $101 million on food. That includes $10 million in USDA commodities, so that's a $91-million budget projected for 2010-11.
Why wasn't there a cost increase?
CPS issued a comprehensive request for proposals, and that helped. But the winning bid came from the same vendor we had last year, Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality, and Chartwells shared with me that they recognize the financial constraints that the district is under. So in putting together a bid, they worked very hard to keep costs down. One thing that helped is Chartwells was using a national distribution company to deliver food to all the schools. Now they're working with small local firms. About a third of our schools — ones that don't have equipment to cook on-site — are served by another vendor, Preferred Meal Systems, and that cost didn't go up, either.
How are you using local foods in the schools?
For the 2009-10 school year, we bought $1.8 million worth of local fruits and vegetables through the FamilyFarmed network, and that will increase for 2010-11. This was a new initiative for us that started with a small pilot in 2008-09 and grew out of our desire to incorporate more fresh produce into our program. Because of the Midwest's short growing season, we decided to look at freezing foods — harvesting things like corn, peas, beans, carrots, squash and berries at their prime and then flash-freezing them to preserve nutrients. We also use fresh items including apples, peaches, plums, potatoes and sweet potatoes. And starting in the fall, we'll also be getting dark leafy greens from local farmers.
In March, a group of CPS high school students got national headlines when they spoke at a Board of Education meeting against the quality of school food. How did that affect the board's decision to adopt the new nutritional standards?
Our nutritional standards were approved in December, previous to any students speaking out. The Board of Education just didn't officially adopt them until April. But we're working with students throughout the district to develop the new menus. We have nine schools where we've introduced the new recipes and gathered feedback. I'd say over 85% of the responses have been extremely positive.
School food has gotten a lot of high-profile attention lately because of ABC's "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" and an Illinois teacher blogging anonymously as Mrs. Q (http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/). What do you think of these efforts?
I didn't watch the Jamie Oliver show. It just wasn't in my schedule. I did read Mrs. Q when she first started, though not since. But whatever it is, it's good because it starts conversations. And I hope that translates into increased attention and increased funding, because that's what the program needs.
©2010 by Crain Communications Inc.
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?articleId=33467
Q&A: The challenge of making Chicago's school lunches greener
Louise Esaian, right, is overseeing Chicago Public Schools' transition to higher nutritional standards.
In April, the Chicago Board of Education adopted new nutritional standards that make Chicago the first major school district in the country to try to surpass the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "gold standard" guidelines for school food. The district's 417,855 students, in 675 schools, will get more whole grains, fiber, legumes and dark green and orange vegetables, and less sodium and sugar. Locally grown produce gets a big push, too, something other Illinois school districts are assessing in light of the Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act of 2009, which aims to build a local-foods economy. Louise Esaian, 50, logistics officer at Chicago Public Schools, is overseeing the transition, which will start with the district's new food-service contract in June and ramp up come fall. We asked her for details, and what she thought of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution."
CRAIN'S: Why did CPS make these changes?
MS. ESAIAN: This journey began several years ago, when we made improvements like planning meals with zero trans fats, prohibiting the use of deep fryers, offering fresh fruit daily and eliminating whole milk. As a continuation of that, we convened a committee in fall 2009 to assess what we'd like our nutrition standards to look like in the future. The Institute of Medicine had recently released new guidelines for school breakfast and lunch programs. Later, the first lady announced her Let's Move! campaign, which included the USDA's gold-standard challenge. The timing couldn't have been more perfect.
How much will the changes cost?
We had anticipated that the cost was going to increase by about $3 million a year. But when we received the bids for our food service, it was cost-neutral. Next year we'll spend approximately $101 million on food. That includes $10 million in USDA commodities, so that's a $91-million budget projected for 2010-11.
Why wasn't there a cost increase?
CPS issued a comprehensive request for proposals, and that helped. But the winning bid came from the same vendor we had last year, Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality, and Chartwells shared with me that they recognize the financial constraints that the district is under. So in putting together a bid, they worked very hard to keep costs down. One thing that helped is Chartwells was using a national distribution company to deliver food to all the schools. Now they're working with small local firms. About a third of our schools — ones that don't have equipment to cook on-site — are served by another vendor, Preferred Meal Systems, and that cost didn't go up, either.
How are you using local foods in the schools?
For the 2009-10 school year, we bought $1.8 million worth of local fruits and vegetables through the FamilyFarmed network, and that will increase for 2010-11. This was a new initiative for us that started with a small pilot in 2008-09 and grew out of our desire to incorporate more fresh produce into our program. Because of the Midwest's short growing season, we decided to look at freezing foods — harvesting things like corn, peas, beans, carrots, squash and berries at their prime and then flash-freezing them to preserve nutrients. We also use fresh items including apples, peaches, plums, potatoes and sweet potatoes. And starting in the fall, we'll also be getting dark leafy greens from local farmers.
In March, a group of CPS high school students got national headlines when they spoke at a Board of Education meeting against the quality of school food. How did that affect the board's decision to adopt the new nutritional standards?
Our nutritional standards were approved in December, previous to any students speaking out. The Board of Education just didn't officially adopt them until April. But we're working with students throughout the district to develop the new menus. We have nine schools where we've introduced the new recipes and gathered feedback. I'd say over 85% of the responses have been extremely positive.
School food has gotten a lot of high-profile attention lately because of ABC's "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" and an Illinois teacher blogging anonymously as Mrs. Q (http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/). What do you think of these efforts?
I didn't watch the Jamie Oliver show. It just wasn't in my schedule. I did read Mrs. Q when she first started, though not since. But whatever it is, it's good because it starts conversations. And I hope that translates into increased attention and increased funding, because that's what the program needs.
©2010 by Crain Communications Inc.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
A Student Blogger Tours the MCPS Posted on 05/28/2010 at 01:51:54 PM by Student Blogger
By: Rebecca K. Posted on The American Society for Nutrition's Website
Posted on 05/28/2010
Ten miles away from the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) office stands the Central Production Facility (CPF) for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). The CPF prepares and distributes all foods for MCPS. It is the largest facility of its kind on the East Coast, has 840 employees (including a full-time mechanic), and is within MCPS—the largest school district in Maryland and 16th largest in the country. I recently went on a tour of the CPF with other ‘stakeholders' (e.g. moms, environmental activists, nutritionists).
Before going on a tour, we were told why the 58,000 square foot CPF, built in 1993, exists. This boiled down to safety (e.g. the entire facility is cool to prevent bacterial growth), uniformity in preparation, and expense (e.g. keep labor costs down by not having workers in each individual school). The CPF is an abnormally large caterer for MCPS and not a nutrition educator.
Read More
Posted on 05/28/2010
Ten miles away from the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) office stands the Central Production Facility (CPF) for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). The CPF prepares and distributes all foods for MCPS. It is the largest facility of its kind on the East Coast, has 840 employees (including a full-time mechanic), and is within MCPS—the largest school district in Maryland and 16th largest in the country. I recently went on a tour of the CPF with other ‘stakeholders' (e.g. moms, environmental activists, nutritionists).
Before going on a tour, we were told why the 58,000 square foot CPF, built in 1993, exists. This boiled down to safety (e.g. the entire facility is cool to prevent bacterial growth), uniformity in preparation, and expense (e.g. keep labor costs down by not having workers in each individual school). The CPF is an abnormally large caterer for MCPS and not a nutrition educator.
Read More
New Farm to School Act in House!
June 2nd, 2010
Last Friday, May 28, Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN), Tom Latham (R-IA), and Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced the National Farm to School Act of 2010 (H.R. 5456) along with 22 original cosponsors.
The Act would authorize USDA to administer competitive grants of up to $100,000 to support planning, implementation, training, and technical assistance for schools, educational agencies, colleges and universities, nonprofits or governments to implement farm to school programs. The legislation would also direct the USDA to identify existing federal programs that could facilitate the participation of small- to medium-sized farmers in farm to school programs and create an online exchange to share best practices on farm to school programs nationwide.
This bill follows in the footsteps of the Farm to School Improvements Act of 2010 (HR 4710), introduced in February by Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ), and the Children's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 (HR 4333), introduced by Rep. Farr (D-CA) and Rep. Putnam (R-FL). Whereas the two prior bills included $50 million in mandatory funding, the National Farm to School Act would be discretionary funding, subject to appropriations. Regardless of that key difference, introduction of the bill demonstrates growing support among policy-makers for farm to school programs which can help to provide healthy food in schools while creating a market to support local farmers.
NSAC supports $50 million in mandatory funding for a Farm to School program as part of the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization process. A Senate reauthorization bill is currently pending floor action, and House committee action is expected later this year.
Last Friday, May 28, Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN), Tom Latham (R-IA), and Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced the National Farm to School Act of 2010 (H.R. 5456) along with 22 original cosponsors.
The Act would authorize USDA to administer competitive grants of up to $100,000 to support planning, implementation, training, and technical assistance for schools, educational agencies, colleges and universities, nonprofits or governments to implement farm to school programs. The legislation would also direct the USDA to identify existing federal programs that could facilitate the participation of small- to medium-sized farmers in farm to school programs and create an online exchange to share best practices on farm to school programs nationwide.
This bill follows in the footsteps of the Farm to School Improvements Act of 2010 (HR 4710), introduced in February by Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ), and the Children's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 (HR 4333), introduced by Rep. Farr (D-CA) and Rep. Putnam (R-FL). Whereas the two prior bills included $50 million in mandatory funding, the National Farm to School Act would be discretionary funding, subject to appropriations. Regardless of that key difference, introduction of the bill demonstrates growing support among policy-makers for farm to school programs which can help to provide healthy food in schools while creating a market to support local farmers.
NSAC supports $50 million in mandatory funding for a Farm to School program as part of the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization process. A Senate reauthorization bill is currently pending floor action, and House committee action is expected later this year.
Farm to School Report in Minnesota
Key Findings
Read Full Report
Respondents from 69 Minnesota school districts reported that they purchased Minnesota-grown foods in 2009. This is up from approximately 30 districts when the initial survey was conducted in November 2008.
Nearly 44 percent of all respondents say they purchased ■■Minnesota-grown foods directly from a farmer or farm co-op in 2009. When asked to rate this experience on a scale of 1 (Trouble-free) to 7 (Very problematic), 75 percent of respondents gave a rating of either 1 or 2.
Seventy-four percent of all respondents purchased ■■Minnesota-grown foods through a prime vendor or produce distributor. When asked to rate their experience on a scale of 1 (Trouble-free) to 7 (Very problematic), 70 percent of respondents gave a rating of either 1 or 2. (Note that some districts purchased Minnesota-grown foods both from a farmer/co-op and through a prime vendor/distributor).
Thirty-five percent of respondents reported purchasing ■■food from Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and/or South Dakota, most commonly Wisconsin.
The most commonly used local foods were apples, ■■potatoes, peppers, winter squash, sweet corn and tomatoes. The majority of respondents (ranging from 67 percent of respondents for winter squash to 94 percent for sweetcorn) rated their experience with these foods as “very successful.”
Among districts engaged in farm to school, 71 percent ■■reported purchasing between $1 and $10,000 of Minnesota-grown foods during 2009.
The top barriers to using more local foods were “extra ■■labor/prep time,” “pricing/fitting local food into budgets,” and “difficulty finding farmers to purchase from directly.”
Among districts currently engaged in farm to school, ■■76 percent expect to expand their farm to school programs in the 2010/11. None indicated that they plan to reduce their farm to school activities in the upcoming school year.
Considerable interest was expressed in increasing farm ■■to school educational efforts and growing food at schools.
Respondents placed a high priority on expanding efforts to ■■engage farmers/distributors, school administrators/boards, students, parents and teachers in farm to school initiatives.
Read Full Report
Respondents from 69 Minnesota school districts reported that they purchased Minnesota-grown foods in 2009. This is up from approximately 30 districts when the initial survey was conducted in November 2008.
Nearly 44 percent of all respondents say they purchased ■■Minnesota-grown foods directly from a farmer or farm co-op in 2009. When asked to rate this experience on a scale of 1 (Trouble-free) to 7 (Very problematic), 75 percent of respondents gave a rating of either 1 or 2.
Seventy-four percent of all respondents purchased ■■Minnesota-grown foods through a prime vendor or produce distributor. When asked to rate their experience on a scale of 1 (Trouble-free) to 7 (Very problematic), 70 percent of respondents gave a rating of either 1 or 2. (Note that some districts purchased Minnesota-grown foods both from a farmer/co-op and through a prime vendor/distributor).
Thirty-five percent of respondents reported purchasing ■■food from Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and/or South Dakota, most commonly Wisconsin.
The most commonly used local foods were apples, ■■potatoes, peppers, winter squash, sweet corn and tomatoes. The majority of respondents (ranging from 67 percent of respondents for winter squash to 94 percent for sweetcorn) rated their experience with these foods as “very successful.”
Among districts engaged in farm to school, 71 percent ■■reported purchasing between $1 and $10,000 of Minnesota-grown foods during 2009.
The top barriers to using more local foods were “extra ■■labor/prep time,” “pricing/fitting local food into budgets,” and “difficulty finding farmers to purchase from directly.”
Among districts currently engaged in farm to school, ■■76 percent expect to expand their farm to school programs in the 2010/11. None indicated that they plan to reduce their farm to school activities in the upcoming school year.
Considerable interest was expressed in increasing farm ■■to school educational efforts and growing food at schools.
Respondents placed a high priority on expanding efforts to ■■engage farmers/distributors, school administrators/boards, students, parents and teachers in farm to school initiatives.
Friday, June 4, 2010
“Lessons from Berkeley: The Truth About Vegetables” by Ed Bruske
“Lessons from Berkeley: The Truth About Vegetables” by Ed Bruske
Lessons from Berkeley: The Truth About Vegetables” by Ed Bruske
May 17th, 2010
Kids have issues with vegetables
Might as well say it straight up: Kids don’t like vegetables.
At least most kids don’t like most vegetables most of the time. That’s the ultimate lesson I draw after spending weeks in school kitchens from Washington, D.C., to Berkeley, CA. And that certainly challenges the idea of produce as a magic elixir for the childhood obesity epidemic. Is the clamor for additional government standards requiring more vegetables in school meals really justified? Or even a good idea?
Truth to tell, I was relieved to see that students in Berkeley are just as indifferent to broccoli and carrots as kids everywhere else. There was a time I feared there might exist some kind of parallel universe where children actually enjoyed and willingly ate the vegetables adults put in front of them. Perhaps the vision of children embracing collards and acorn squash is merely a case of wishful adult thinking after all.
What I saw during my week in Berkeley’s central school kitchen was a pair of seasoned, professional chefs who knew what the deal was with kids and vegetables. Being chefs on a budget, they take a clear-eyed, pragmatic approach to making school meals. They weren’t just slapping peas on a tray to satisfy some standard dreamed up in Washington, D.C. With stoic determination, they were finding ways to incorporate vegatables that would actually be eaten in daily meals, often by making them much less obvious. They don’t waste time or money on broccoli side dishes. They serve lots of beans, which satisfy government vegetable requirements cheaply and efficiently–just in case that Tuscan bean salad ends up being scraped into the compost bin.
Why serve kids local brussels sprouts if they just end up in the trash? That was exactly the message D.C. school officials sent legislators here when they tried to adopt new Institute of Medicine standards calling for bigger portions of vegetables: Please don’t!
In the District of Columbia, canned green beans, steamed carrots and broccoli cooked to death appear on Styrofoam serving trays on a regular basis, only to be ignored by the children for whom they are intended and dropped into trash receptacles at the end of the meal. “They’re nasty,” is how my 10-year-old daughter and her classmates describe them. Isn’t the defininition of insanity repeating the same behavior over and over, expecting a different result?
The chefs in Berkeley are sneaky. They load 125 pounds of fresh onions, carrots and celery into every batch of marinara sauce they make for their pizza and pasta. Could the solution to our national angst over getting kids to eat more vegetables possibly be mirepoix? Or maybe what we need instead of more standards are some best practices that school kitchen managers can share.
If anything, what these weeks in school kitchens have taught me is that standards really don’t make a fig of difference. What really matters is what kids see on their plate every day. We know that schools can serve industrially-processed junk food full of starchy carbs and sugar that absolutely complies with federal standards. We know that kids, given a choice, will gladly eat that junk food. So how do schools make “healthy” affordable food kids will actually consume on the meager allowance the federal government gives them?
Berkeley succedes because the city itself has invested in a great kitchen and seasoned chefs to run it. They also get an enormous boost from the State of California and its “Meals for Needy” funding. How do you replicate something like Berkeley’s food service model across the country without a commitment to do so on the part of local comunities and a huge infusion of cash?
Because I also teach kids about food and cooking on a regular basis, I know that children will eat vegetables in controlled situations where they can handle and prepare the food themselves. That doesn’t mean they will eat every vegetable that comes down the pike. Sometimes they need to be exposed over and over again. Sometimes they will completely surprise me, as they did recently when they happily devoured an Ethiopian yellow split pea stew we made for our classes.
What was it that made that split pea stew, seasoned with ginger, garlic and curry spices, so appealing to grade-schoolers? Was it because we made it together and had so much fun in the process? Or was it because there were two teachers on hand, encouraging them? Would they have eaten that very same split pea stew had it been offered in the cafeteria? It’s still a mystery to me. They also were crazy for an Ethiopian potato stew loaded with finely copped cabbage and carrots. Just try getting the average kid to eat cooked cabbage or carrots.
Something seems to come over kids when they enter a cafeteria. Even the ones trained in gardening and cooking will skip right past the vegetables to get to the pizza.
I happen to like the idea of salad bars. That runs somewhat counter to my reporting on school cafeterias. I’ve seen some lovely salad bars in schools, and most kids walk right past them. But I still like them and think they are worth pursuing. I’m told that in elementary schools, where children get more adult supervision and guidance around meal time, kids will eat from salad bars more enthusiastically. Properly done, I think salad bars are a great way to expose children to alternative approaches to vegetables and give them an opportunity to compose their own meals from a variety of food choices, including protein and dairy.
My proposal, made only partially in jest, would be a national program to put a salad bar in every school. Call it The National School Salad Bar Initiative. Not only would this give every child exposure to fresh vegetables in a pressure-free environment, it would create instant markets for local growers and provide jobs on a grand scale to retirees or others who are looking for part-time work. Berkeley employs spsecial kitchen workers who spend three hours each day maintaining the salad bars that are installed in all 16 of the district’s schools. They tend to be more elderly workers who don’t want to spend a lot of time on their feet. It’s a perfect trifecta.
Are you listening, President Obama? Salad bars are a perfect opportunity to make school food healthier, support local farmers and put Americans back to work in hard economic times. A National School Salad Bar Initiative would also be a great way to support all the work your wife is doing fighting childhood obesity.
The clamor for more produce in school meals also obscures a far simpler path to making school food healthier: We could make school food healthier overnight by just getting rid of all the sugar served in the federally-subsidized meal program.
Parents in Berkeley understand this. That’s why you don’t see the sugary cereals, cookies, Pop-Tarts and flavored milk in school breakfasts there. It’s a remarkable contrast to morning meals in D.C. schools, where kids consume 50 or 60 grams of sugar (60 grams equals 15 teaspoons) first thing in the morning, and are offered strawberry-flavored milk–the near-equivalent of Mountain Dew–twice a day.
All schools need do is follow the lead of Berkeley and other school districts that understand that tons of sugar cannot be good for kids in the middle of an obesity epidemic. There is no reason to wait for the federal government to publish standards regulating the amount of sugar in school meals. In all likelihood, that won’t happen any time soon. The sugar lobby is strong: While there are volumes of standards regulating the fat content of school food, there are no such standards for sugar.
If anyone would like to start a campaign for rigorous sugar standards in the federal meals program, please have at it. I’ll be the first to support you.
Lessons from Berkeley: The Truth About Vegetables” by Ed Bruske
May 17th, 2010
Kids have issues with vegetables
Might as well say it straight up: Kids don’t like vegetables.
At least most kids don’t like most vegetables most of the time. That’s the ultimate lesson I draw after spending weeks in school kitchens from Washington, D.C., to Berkeley, CA. And that certainly challenges the idea of produce as a magic elixir for the childhood obesity epidemic. Is the clamor for additional government standards requiring more vegetables in school meals really justified? Or even a good idea?
Truth to tell, I was relieved to see that students in Berkeley are just as indifferent to broccoli and carrots as kids everywhere else. There was a time I feared there might exist some kind of parallel universe where children actually enjoyed and willingly ate the vegetables adults put in front of them. Perhaps the vision of children embracing collards and acorn squash is merely a case of wishful adult thinking after all.
What I saw during my week in Berkeley’s central school kitchen was a pair of seasoned, professional chefs who knew what the deal was with kids and vegetables. Being chefs on a budget, they take a clear-eyed, pragmatic approach to making school meals. They weren’t just slapping peas on a tray to satisfy some standard dreamed up in Washington, D.C. With stoic determination, they were finding ways to incorporate vegatables that would actually be eaten in daily meals, often by making them much less obvious. They don’t waste time or money on broccoli side dishes. They serve lots of beans, which satisfy government vegetable requirements cheaply and efficiently–just in case that Tuscan bean salad ends up being scraped into the compost bin.
Why serve kids local brussels sprouts if they just end up in the trash? That was exactly the message D.C. school officials sent legislators here when they tried to adopt new Institute of Medicine standards calling for bigger portions of vegetables: Please don’t!
In the District of Columbia, canned green beans, steamed carrots and broccoli cooked to death appear on Styrofoam serving trays on a regular basis, only to be ignored by the children for whom they are intended and dropped into trash receptacles at the end of the meal. “They’re nasty,” is how my 10-year-old daughter and her classmates describe them. Isn’t the defininition of insanity repeating the same behavior over and over, expecting a different result?
The chefs in Berkeley are sneaky. They load 125 pounds of fresh onions, carrots and celery into every batch of marinara sauce they make for their pizza and pasta. Could the solution to our national angst over getting kids to eat more vegetables possibly be mirepoix? Or maybe what we need instead of more standards are some best practices that school kitchen managers can share.
If anything, what these weeks in school kitchens have taught me is that standards really don’t make a fig of difference. What really matters is what kids see on their plate every day. We know that schools can serve industrially-processed junk food full of starchy carbs and sugar that absolutely complies with federal standards. We know that kids, given a choice, will gladly eat that junk food. So how do schools make “healthy” affordable food kids will actually consume on the meager allowance the federal government gives them?
Berkeley succedes because the city itself has invested in a great kitchen and seasoned chefs to run it. They also get an enormous boost from the State of California and its “Meals for Needy” funding. How do you replicate something like Berkeley’s food service model across the country without a commitment to do so on the part of local comunities and a huge infusion of cash?
Because I also teach kids about food and cooking on a regular basis, I know that children will eat vegetables in controlled situations where they can handle and prepare the food themselves. That doesn’t mean they will eat every vegetable that comes down the pike. Sometimes they need to be exposed over and over again. Sometimes they will completely surprise me, as they did recently when they happily devoured an Ethiopian yellow split pea stew we made for our classes.
What was it that made that split pea stew, seasoned with ginger, garlic and curry spices, so appealing to grade-schoolers? Was it because we made it together and had so much fun in the process? Or was it because there were two teachers on hand, encouraging them? Would they have eaten that very same split pea stew had it been offered in the cafeteria? It’s still a mystery to me. They also were crazy for an Ethiopian potato stew loaded with finely copped cabbage and carrots. Just try getting the average kid to eat cooked cabbage or carrots.
Something seems to come over kids when they enter a cafeteria. Even the ones trained in gardening and cooking will skip right past the vegetables to get to the pizza.
I happen to like the idea of salad bars. That runs somewhat counter to my reporting on school cafeterias. I’ve seen some lovely salad bars in schools, and most kids walk right past them. But I still like them and think they are worth pursuing. I’m told that in elementary schools, where children get more adult supervision and guidance around meal time, kids will eat from salad bars more enthusiastically. Properly done, I think salad bars are a great way to expose children to alternative approaches to vegetables and give them an opportunity to compose their own meals from a variety of food choices, including protein and dairy.
My proposal, made only partially in jest, would be a national program to put a salad bar in every school. Call it The National School Salad Bar Initiative. Not only would this give every child exposure to fresh vegetables in a pressure-free environment, it would create instant markets for local growers and provide jobs on a grand scale to retirees or others who are looking for part-time work. Berkeley employs spsecial kitchen workers who spend three hours each day maintaining the salad bars that are installed in all 16 of the district’s schools. They tend to be more elderly workers who don’t want to spend a lot of time on their feet. It’s a perfect trifecta.
Are you listening, President Obama? Salad bars are a perfect opportunity to make school food healthier, support local farmers and put Americans back to work in hard economic times. A National School Salad Bar Initiative would also be a great way to support all the work your wife is doing fighting childhood obesity.
The clamor for more produce in school meals also obscures a far simpler path to making school food healthier: We could make school food healthier overnight by just getting rid of all the sugar served in the federally-subsidized meal program.
Parents in Berkeley understand this. That’s why you don’t see the sugary cereals, cookies, Pop-Tarts and flavored milk in school breakfasts there. It’s a remarkable contrast to morning meals in D.C. schools, where kids consume 50 or 60 grams of sugar (60 grams equals 15 teaspoons) first thing in the morning, and are offered strawberry-flavored milk–the near-equivalent of Mountain Dew–twice a day.
All schools need do is follow the lead of Berkeley and other school districts that understand that tons of sugar cannot be good for kids in the middle of an obesity epidemic. There is no reason to wait for the federal government to publish standards regulating the amount of sugar in school meals. In all likelihood, that won’t happen any time soon. The sugar lobby is strong: While there are volumes of standards regulating the fat content of school food, there are no such standards for sugar.
If anyone would like to start a campaign for rigorous sugar standards in the federal meals program, please have at it. I’ll be the first to support you.
Chefs Move to Schools: A nutritious program kids can sink their teeth into
Read Published article in The Washington Post
By Jane Black
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 4, 2010
It was nearly midnight on a bitter January night when a group of Washington's most celebrated chefs assembled around a long table at downtown hotspot Brasserie Beck to debrief one another on their recent White House mission. Enlisted by the first lady's office in her war against childhood obesity, each had eaten lunch at a D.C. public school. The unanimous verdict was fairly predictable: no stars.
The food, largely paid for by the federal government, was fatty and overprocessed. A breakfast sandwich had more than 100 ingredients, said one chef, angrily waving a photo of what looked like a burrito that he'd taken on his cellphone. Where there were salads, the kids just threw them away, bemoaned another. In one school, a chef reported, there was no cafeteria at all. The kids ate out of pizza boxes at a folding table.
"What we are feeding our children is an outrage. We should be marching with picket signs and pitchforks in revolution," said Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve in Alexandria.
But a wholesale replacement of chicken nuggets and nachos is a tall order. Whatever the chefs think, the meals served in schools do meet federal nutrition standards -- and they are delivered at a price the government is willing to pay. So the city's Iron Chefs -- the group includes White House assistant chef Sam Kass, José Andrés of Jaleo, Todd Gray of Equinox, Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery and Robert Wiedmaier of Brasserie Beck -- decided that each chef would adopt a school. Kass is spearheading the project.
In the months since that meeting, the chefs have taken the first steps to make real the lofty goals of Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative, which aims to end childhood obesity within a generation. Gray and Mendelsohn began teaching cooking classes to hundreds of students and parents, and have helped to plant school gardens. Armstrong established a nonprofit catering service with a mission to create healthful, affordable food for public school cafeterias.
On Friday, they and hundreds of other chefs will gather at the White House to launch a national adopt-a-school program. Dubbed Chefs Move to Schools, the initiative will draw both the brightest stars of the culinary universe -- Rachael Ray, Tom Colicchio and Cat Cora -- and the unknown soldiers who staff corporate kitchens, food banks and culinary schools.
Their mission won't be easy. The lack of funding (the federal government allocates $2.68 per child per lunch) and equipment (many schools don't have kitchens) stand in the way of freshly made salads or even hand-cut french fries.
At the very least, the combination of chefs and reality-style makeovers is smart marketing by the White House. But if the nearly 1,000 chefs who have signed on to the program catch the same fever as their Washington counterparts, the hope is that the program could spark a real "Food Revolution," Jamie Oliver-style. A thousand forks of light, if you will.
Witness the excitement at Murch Elementary, the school that chef Gray adopted in January. His first cooking lesson and lecture were scheduled for a Sunday -- after a major snowstorm. And yet about 250 parents and students arrived at the school auditorium in Northwest Washington. Gray, who will talk at the White House event about his experiences, stood on the stage and showed them how to whip up a cucumber and bread salad and a smoothie with blood orange and beet juices.
"The kids were slugging this stuff back," he recalls. "Parents kept saying they'd never seen kids do that."
Mendelsohn, who made his name as a runner-up on the reality TV show "Top Chef," is taking a similar tack at the KIPP Academy in Southeast Washington. The chef was attracted to the charter school, he says, because it "has done the same thing with education as we want to do with food: to reinvent it."
He has taught several Saturday cooking classes that students attend with their parents. (At one lesson, each child was given a tomato and cucumber to slice. The students with the best knife skills paraded their work around the cafeteria.) On Monday, he will plant a rooftop garden for the school.
Since the launch of Let's Move!, many food service providers have already begun to improve their offerings. In Chicago, for example, Chartwells, the same vendor that works in D.C. public schools, has tightened its nutrition standards and promised to amp up the number of leafy green vegetables and whole grains served.
But Armstrong wants more dramatic change, faster. Over the past several months, he has visited nearby school food production facilities, where he says he was appalled to discover that reheating processed food is considered "cooking." He has recruited a board of directors and philanthropists who have agreed to raise money for the project. The plan is to provide food for one local school, then expand across the city.
Jaleo's Andrés has taken his case to the Hill. He has hosted a series of off-the-record dinners for journalists and policymakers to drum up interest -- they are dubbed the Brillat-Savarin dinners in honor of the French chef who famously said, "Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are." The chef has worked closely with sympathetic lawmakers including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), among others.
Andrés says chefs need to lobby for dollars like everybody else. President Obama requested $10 billion for childhood nutrition programs in his 2010 budget. The Senate has allocated less than half that amount.
"We have to be more outspoken about how we feed our children," Andrés says. "Chefs have to have a bigger role in the school lunch program. They have to have a bigger voice in the political establishment in anything that has to do with food."
Perhaps. But chefs' raging egos may not be well-suited to the moribund ways of Washington or the regulation-bound world of school food.
"Chefs are accustomed to being in charge. But you can't just walk in and overhaul someone's kitchen," notes Ellie Krieger, the host of the Food Network show "Healthy Appetite." "A little bit of anger gets you motivated. But you have to channel it in a positive way and work as part of a team."
For Krieger, who is attending the Chefs Move event, that meant forming a "wellness committee" and establishing vegetable tastings for students at her daughter's public school in Manhattan. Ann Cooper, the nutrition director of the Boulder Valley school district in Colorado who calls herself the "Renegade Lunch Lady," says she believes chefs can have the most impact by educating and inspiring children to eat healthful food.
"We've grown a generation of children who think chicken nugget is a food group," she says. "I think the thing that makes the most sense for chefs who know nothing about school food, which is most of them, is to use our newfound celebrity status to get kids to think about food, taste food, cherish food in the way that we do."
As for larger political aims? "Maybe the answer is that in addition to adopting a school, we should all adopt a congressperson," Cooper says. Maybe all we really need to do is take them to a school and show them what we feed our kids."
By Jane Black
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 4, 2010
It was nearly midnight on a bitter January night when a group of Washington's most celebrated chefs assembled around a long table at downtown hotspot Brasserie Beck to debrief one another on their recent White House mission. Enlisted by the first lady's office in her war against childhood obesity, each had eaten lunch at a D.C. public school. The unanimous verdict was fairly predictable: no stars.
The food, largely paid for by the federal government, was fatty and overprocessed. A breakfast sandwich had more than 100 ingredients, said one chef, angrily waving a photo of what looked like a burrito that he'd taken on his cellphone. Where there were salads, the kids just threw them away, bemoaned another. In one school, a chef reported, there was no cafeteria at all. The kids ate out of pizza boxes at a folding table.
"What we are feeding our children is an outrage. We should be marching with picket signs and pitchforks in revolution," said Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve in Alexandria.
But a wholesale replacement of chicken nuggets and nachos is a tall order. Whatever the chefs think, the meals served in schools do meet federal nutrition standards -- and they are delivered at a price the government is willing to pay. So the city's Iron Chefs -- the group includes White House assistant chef Sam Kass, José Andrés of Jaleo, Todd Gray of Equinox, Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff Eatery and Robert Wiedmaier of Brasserie Beck -- decided that each chef would adopt a school. Kass is spearheading the project.
In the months since that meeting, the chefs have taken the first steps to make real the lofty goals of Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative, which aims to end childhood obesity within a generation. Gray and Mendelsohn began teaching cooking classes to hundreds of students and parents, and have helped to plant school gardens. Armstrong established a nonprofit catering service with a mission to create healthful, affordable food for public school cafeterias.
On Friday, they and hundreds of other chefs will gather at the White House to launch a national adopt-a-school program. Dubbed Chefs Move to Schools, the initiative will draw both the brightest stars of the culinary universe -- Rachael Ray, Tom Colicchio and Cat Cora -- and the unknown soldiers who staff corporate kitchens, food banks and culinary schools.
Their mission won't be easy. The lack of funding (the federal government allocates $2.68 per child per lunch) and equipment (many schools don't have kitchens) stand in the way of freshly made salads or even hand-cut french fries.
At the very least, the combination of chefs and reality-style makeovers is smart marketing by the White House. But if the nearly 1,000 chefs who have signed on to the program catch the same fever as their Washington counterparts, the hope is that the program could spark a real "Food Revolution," Jamie Oliver-style. A thousand forks of light, if you will.
Witness the excitement at Murch Elementary, the school that chef Gray adopted in January. His first cooking lesson and lecture were scheduled for a Sunday -- after a major snowstorm. And yet about 250 parents and students arrived at the school auditorium in Northwest Washington. Gray, who will talk at the White House event about his experiences, stood on the stage and showed them how to whip up a cucumber and bread salad and a smoothie with blood orange and beet juices.
"The kids were slugging this stuff back," he recalls. "Parents kept saying they'd never seen kids do that."
Mendelsohn, who made his name as a runner-up on the reality TV show "Top Chef," is taking a similar tack at the KIPP Academy in Southeast Washington. The chef was attracted to the charter school, he says, because it "has done the same thing with education as we want to do with food: to reinvent it."
He has taught several Saturday cooking classes that students attend with their parents. (At one lesson, each child was given a tomato and cucumber to slice. The students with the best knife skills paraded their work around the cafeteria.) On Monday, he will plant a rooftop garden for the school.
Since the launch of Let's Move!, many food service providers have already begun to improve their offerings. In Chicago, for example, Chartwells, the same vendor that works in D.C. public schools, has tightened its nutrition standards and promised to amp up the number of leafy green vegetables and whole grains served.
But Armstrong wants more dramatic change, faster. Over the past several months, he has visited nearby school food production facilities, where he says he was appalled to discover that reheating processed food is considered "cooking." He has recruited a board of directors and philanthropists who have agreed to raise money for the project. The plan is to provide food for one local school, then expand across the city.
Jaleo's Andrés has taken his case to the Hill. He has hosted a series of off-the-record dinners for journalists and policymakers to drum up interest -- they are dubbed the Brillat-Savarin dinners in honor of the French chef who famously said, "Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are." The chef has worked closely with sympathetic lawmakers including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), among others.
Andrés says chefs need to lobby for dollars like everybody else. President Obama requested $10 billion for childhood nutrition programs in his 2010 budget. The Senate has allocated less than half that amount.
"We have to be more outspoken about how we feed our children," Andrés says. "Chefs have to have a bigger role in the school lunch program. They have to have a bigger voice in the political establishment in anything that has to do with food."
Perhaps. But chefs' raging egos may not be well-suited to the moribund ways of Washington or the regulation-bound world of school food.
"Chefs are accustomed to being in charge. But you can't just walk in and overhaul someone's kitchen," notes Ellie Krieger, the host of the Food Network show "Healthy Appetite." "A little bit of anger gets you motivated. But you have to channel it in a positive way and work as part of a team."
For Krieger, who is attending the Chefs Move event, that meant forming a "wellness committee" and establishing vegetable tastings for students at her daughter's public school in Manhattan. Ann Cooper, the nutrition director of the Boulder Valley school district in Colorado who calls herself the "Renegade Lunch Lady," says she believes chefs can have the most impact by educating and inspiring children to eat healthful food.
"We've grown a generation of children who think chicken nugget is a food group," she says. "I think the thing that makes the most sense for chefs who know nothing about school food, which is most of them, is to use our newfound celebrity status to get kids to think about food, taste food, cherish food in the way that we do."
As for larger political aims? "Maybe the answer is that in addition to adopting a school, we should all adopt a congressperson," Cooper says. Maybe all we really need to do is take them to a school and show them what we feed our kids."
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Ann Cooper talks school lunches | Video on TED.com
Why you should listen to her: .Ann Cooper has a frontline view of the daily battle to keep kids healthy -- and of the enemy, the processed-foods industries that, it sometimes seems, want to wrap every single thing that children eat in a fried coating and then a plastic bag. As the director of nutrition services for the Berkeley (California) Unified School District, she's an outspoken activist for serving fresh, sustainable food to kids. Her lively website, LunchLessons.org, rounds up recipes, links, and resources for food activism.
Cooper's influential program in Berkeley involves kids in every stage of the food they eat, from growing to disposing of it. And along the way, eating some delicious cafeteria lunches.
She's the author of several books, including Bitter Harvest, an examination of the food chain, and her latest, Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children
Cooper's influential program in Berkeley involves kids in every stage of the food they eat, from growing to disposing of it. And along the way, eating some delicious cafeteria lunches.
She's the author of several books, including Bitter Harvest, an examination of the food chain, and her latest, Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children
Welcome to our Revolution
Are you ready for a Food Revolution? We are Montgomery County Public School parents who want to improve the food that is served to our kids at school. MCPS serves 12 million meals a year to our kids. We want to make sure that they are low in fat, healthy, made from whole grains, low in sugar, low in salt.
We welcome comments.
We welcome comments.
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