Monthly Archives: April 2010

Guest blogger: School Composting Programs

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Happy Earth Day! In celebration I’d like to share a guest blog post about something you probably never even considered: composting in the schools. How cool is that? Kids love dirt! And what a great way to start a garden.

Jeremy runs the blog Sustainable in the Suburbs, which covers all things sustainable in the Chicago Suburbs and it’s on twitter @SustainableSub. Sustainable in the Suburbs is a one stop location for all things related to sustainability in the Chicago Suburbs, whether it be local news, sustainable living, or interviews with local leaders in sustainability; its a place where you can learn, connect, and get involved.


Good school lunches or bad, if all of the food on the tray is not eaten, it usually all goes into the same place, the trash.  And just as with school lunch, when it comes to disposing of leftover food, there is a better way.  Most schools in the country throw leftover food right into the garbage can.  Just like in the elementary school cafeteria in Jamie Oliver’s television show Food Revolution, the three thuds of the tray against the side of the garbage can signaled that food was being thrown into the trash, where it will most likely head off to a landfill in an airtight bag, to be preserved indefinitely, sealed underground.  But, there is a better way: school composting programs.   School composting programs are not only better for the earth, but they can also be an amazing hands on learning laboratory for the students and help them to become good stewards of the planet.

As landfills fill up, disposing of our waste is becoming more of a problem. One beautiful thing about much of the waste we generate, especially in a school cafeteria, is that it can be composted. Creating composting programs in schools is good for the planet and has multiple benefits for the students. A website created by Cornell University that covers the benefits of composting in schools says it best. 

“With composting, children can do more than just sending cans or newspapers off for recycling — they can see the entire cycle, from “yucky” food scraps or other organic wastes to something that is pleasant to handle and is good for the soil. Contrary to the “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy, children who compost become aware of organic wastes as potential resources rather than just as something “gross” to be thrown away and forgotten. They learn through direct experience that they personally can make a difference and have a positive effect on the environment.”
Compost is not only a great way to dispose of organic waste on site, it is a great teaching tool and can be incorporated into biology, chemistry, and physics lessons. Great compost is also the foundation for organic gardening and an on-site compost program would be a great addition to any school garden.
Many schools already have great compost programs. Mansfield Middle School in Connecticut has an outstanding school compost system (and a fantastic website). The Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District has also set up a school composting system and has composted over 278 tons of food scraps! The King Open School in Cambridge shares their school’s lunch time compost program with details on how they do it and their experiences with the program.
So what are we waiting for? Lets start talking to our children’s educators and school administrators and encourage them to start composting at school. Its good for the earth, instills positive values into our children, and it can be an amazing laboratory for learning. 
Additional Composting Resources:

Day 64: bean burrito

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Today’s menu: bean burrito, corn, applesauce, cookie, milk

Yeah for something new! I had a bean burrito and you know what? It was tasty. I want to have it again. And there were identifiable beans in the burrito. I tried to take a shot of the inside of the burrito, but I couldn’t get a decent one. Anyway I was pleasantly surprised. Corn makes sense as a side here. Applesauce and cookie? Not so much, but overall this one is one I’d definitely eat again without complaint.

Guest Blogger: From a student’s perspective

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  As a recent graduate of a Florida high school (class of 2009) school lunch food is fresh in my memory. I’ve only recently began following Mrs. Q’s blog, but it’s made me rethink my lunch time experiences. As a future teacher, I don’t want students coming into my class sluggish and tired, possibly still hungry, from bad school lunches.

     My elementary school lunches weren’t all that bad compared to how they are today in elementary schools, middle school still wasn’t very unhealthy except for the occasional rubbery pizza and bland veggies. But middle school was also the introduction to the snack food carts. The tall racks full of chips, snack cakes, and Pop-Tarts, next to the Gatorade and pink lemonades. I indulged in these every once in a while when I had extra money, but I still had my hot lunch.
     Then I made it to high school.
     In my school’s lunch room, there was a hot lunch line where you could get the usual “rubbery pizza and bland veggies.” Then there were three a la carte lunch lines. One sold ice creams scoops and all the toppings to go with it. While the other two served anything from pretzels and chicken tenders to Pop-Tarts and Doritos.
     If I didn’t bring something for lunch, I waited almost my whole lunch time in one of those lines to get some mini corn dogs and fries. Half the time the corn dogs were burnt and the fries not cooked all the way. I lived off of that or chips and snack cakes up until my sophomore year. Then junior year I turned to ordering the nachos and cheese every day. I’m not sure why I or anyone else ate them, the cheese “product” was always a neon color and the chips were stale.
And I knew it was all bad for me. But it was there, so I wanted to eat it. 
    
Recently I went back to my high school to visit a teacher and decided to see if the lunch was any better. Not at all. My teacher and I were talking and both knew if they’d get better, healthier, fresher food in the hot lunch line and got rid of the choices from the al a carte, maybe replacing it with a good salad bar, as well as making water cheaper, then kids would eat much better and function at 100% in class.

     I believe that to help students eat healthier lunches we need to get rid of the temptations and bad choices. Nena http://twitter.com/NenaBabyLove  

Day 63: hot dog

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Today’s menu: hot dog, whole wheat buns, beans, fruit cup, milk (not pictured)

It feels like it’s been awhile since I ate a hot dog. You know, today it tasted pretty good. The beans were piping hot, which made them taste a lot better (in a previous post I discussed how canned baked beans were one of my favorite foods as a kid).

I was pretty hungry today and so I ate the fruit cup. Normally I take a sip and a spork-sized bite and move on, but today I ate every last pear equivalent. They were cold little masses and I sucked them like lozenges. Soothing like an ice cold mushy cough drop. I should have been diving into these little cups of mouth fun all along!

Us AND Them

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I have been careful not to disclose my identity, my school, the district, or the food vendor. In case I haven’t been clear before: I like my school and the district. I love what I do and I chose where I work for many reasons. Names are left out because this is not about individuals. The food I am eating at my school is what kids eat in every state in the country every single day.

Fed Up With Lunch is not about blaming. The project was simply a crazy idea I had when I sat down to write my resolutions for 2010. Have you ever heard of a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal)? I don’t know where I heard that term but when I did I thought, “What can I do in 2010 that would challenge me and be totally wild?” And then project came to me. My BHAG: to raise awareness about school lunches by eating what the kids eat every day in 2010. My hope: to help all of us be more reflective about what kids eat at school. I didn’t have a clue that the blog would “go viral.”

I had no knowledge about the school food reform movement when I started the blog. I didn’t know who any of the “big players” were. I’m grateful they welcomed me, but that’s not why I did the blog. I don’t want to be famous and I’m certainly not a hero. I’m a not important, a nobody. Frankly, I prefer it that way.

You know, I’m on the same team as my school, the district and even the food vendor. It’s not “us versus them.” I educate kids and “they” feed kids. We are both doing good things. I think there is a role for all of us. We can do better by working together.

I’m pretty sure that “they” know about the project and I think “they” might be trying to find me. And if you or “they” or anyone wants me to discuss it, please ask me (email address to the right). I have an open door policy. Come on in and join me in what has turned into a national discussion.

Become a School Food Lobbyist on April 21!

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Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine emailed me to make me aware of legislation going through the House of Representatives right now! Join me in letting Congress know how we feel!


***
Congress is writing a new law that would help schools provide healthier food for their students. Now we need your help! Learn how to lobby Congress and stand up for your health and the health of your family and all young people.

The Healthy School Meals Act of 2010, H.R. 4870 can help reverse America’s childhood obesity epidemic by enabling schools across the country to provide healthier options in the lunch line. The more people who call Congress on April 21, the greater the impact we can have. Tell your Member of Congress why YOU want healthy school meals.

Tuesday, April 20: Get ready by joining PCRM’s Elizabeth Kucinich on a

national conference call to learn about the Healthy School Meals Act and
how to lobby your Member of Congress.

Wednesday, April 21: Call to ask your Member of Congress in

Washington, D.C., to support the Healthy School Meals Act.
Learn more and sign up at


www.HealthySchoolLunches.org

Day 62: chicken nuggets *veggies forgotten*

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Today’s menu: chicken nuggets with sauce, garlic bread, apple, milk not pictured as usual, veggies: MIA (but they were offered to students!)

The veggies are not present because I was in a rush going through line, but they were given to the students. I think it would have been peas.

Today there’s an additional little sauce for the chicken nuggets! I wonder what the kids think when the sauce shows up since usually they get bbq sauce. Also the packaging changed from small reinforced paper containers to actual plastic similar to a microwave meal. I know that normally ovens are used to heat up the food, but I wonder if this meal was microwaved? I just can’t really imagine that.

The apple was delicious and the garlic bread was good, a little chewy. And the chicken nuggets were “eh.” Knowing that they could be only 30% to 50% chicken makes it harder for me to eat them. I’m fixated on the fillers.

Today I would have loved some hearty chicken noodle soup. Man, I wish I could take a break.

Guest blogger: Food service director on "Thaw-and-serve"

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Our resident food service director Ms. A has joined us again to share her perspective. On the one-month anniversary of her blog, Brave New Lunch, she decided to reveal a little more about herself in cluding her name and state (Ali from Massachusetts). 

Why My School Went From Family-Style Lunches To Thaw-And-Serve
(companion post on her blog) 
Somewhere in the last few decades, the cooking part of my school’s lunch was whittled away and replaced with thaw-and-serve.  It was a gradual change.  According to our oldest lunch lady who just celebrated her fortieth year at the school, students once shared meals family-style.  At each table, the kitchen crew set out placemats and silverware for each student.  Lunch lasted an hour.
As the student population grew, there were more mouths to feed every year.  The school expanded its property.  The kitchen and cafeteria moved to a new space about twenty years ago.  Since then the school allocated a few random spaces in the building for kitchen storage, but the kitchen and cafeteria itself hasn’t expanded any further. 
Today it desperately needs a few more pieces of commercial cooking equipment and space to accommodate those items.  We use two convection ovens to do the bulk of our cooking.  Without other pieces, though, it’s very difficult to cook foods that can’t be thrown in the oven.  For example, our stovetop steamer we use may be the same kind you use at home.  If you can imagine steaming vegetables for 500 in that steamer, then you might get an idea of our difficulties.   
The kitchen adapted by turning to instant, canned and thaw-and-serve foods.  It’s appealing for some very basic reasons: 
Thaw-and-serve requires little training and effort.  By using precooked foods, the skills and labor normally required for cooking aren’t necessary. The school can hire kitchen help with no little training, which is a lot cheaper than hiring a skilled cook.  In the food service industry where labor may cost significantly more than the food ingredients, thaw-and-serve is an attractive option. 
Thaw-and-serve doesn’t require lots of space or cooking equipment.  Schools choose thaw-and-serve so they don’t need to expand the kitchen.  Nor is a commercial mixer to knead dough for bread or a steam kettle to boil pasta.  As long as there’s enough oven space there’s no need to build a larger kitchen, which could costs tens of thousands of dollars.  It’s a huge upfront cost without a tangible or immediate academic payoff. 

Until the school is ready to put money into the kitchen over other important parts of the school, thaw-and-serve will continue to rule.      
Perhaps it is a bit harsh to compare today’s school lunch to a feed lot, but the resemblance is there – a feeding operation designed to cram fuel in the mouths of as many as possible in the shortest period of time.
 
In less than 3 hours, all 500 students and staff pass through the school cafeteria in five lunch periods.  While fairly calm the first hour, the last hour is chaos.  Each lunch begins with a line of people making their way through the main meal line.  Each person finds a seat and can get up again for additional helpings of food.  Our cafeteria is all-you-can-eat, but to stop huge quantities of food piling up in the waste bin, we only offer one portion of the main meal at a time. 
The older students come to the later lunch periods and have additional food options beside the main meal.  The last lunch gets everything the kitchen has to offer – main meal, soup, salad, deli, and bagel bars.  Daily announcements begin five minutes before lunch is over.  It ends with plates and utensils being separated from trash.  Lastly, a few students spray and wipe each table with sanitizer.  This routine happens in each of the five 25 minute lunch periods.  There is ten minute in between each lunch so that we can prepare for the next.      
How the students in the back of the lunch line don’t get indigestion is a wonder.  They may not begin eating until a third of the way through lunch.  We lunch ladies stuff our food down in less than fifteen minutes.  Sometimes I manage to simultaneously have a stomachache and be hungry when I leave school a couple hours later!  Eating lunch is simply a means of basic nourishment, nothing else.     
The quality, nutrition, and time devoted to school lunch in America are at an all time low.  Letting our next generation grow up eating like this is appalling.  The enjoyment that food can bring and the potential of food as a tool in the academic community are lost too.