I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what changes would make school lunch better for students. Here’s what I’ve got so far (I might be shooting for the moon here):
1) Commit to offering pizza only once per month and removing hot dogs from the menu.
2) Offer a piece of fruit at every meal in place of a fruit cup, fruit juice or icee. The fruit part of the meal should be actual fruit and it should be sliced so that kids can grab it and eat it.
3) Allow parents, educators, and students access to nutritional information for each meal. It can be online.
4) Offer greens (spinach, salad, etc) in a salad bar to students every day and educate them on how to make a salad.
5) Remove pre-packaged items (bagel dogs, peanut butter sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, etc) from the menu and replace with casseroles, soups, wraps, or fresh-made PB&Js (all of which are cost-efficient and can be made in very large batches).
6) Commit to a 50% to 75% reduction of plastic/paper containers and remove all styrofoam from the cafeteria. Install dishwashers in all schools (like it used to be).
7) Offer more options geared towards students with allergies and intolerances (lactose, wheat, nut, etc). Might as well educate students on what “lactose intolerant” means and what “allergy” means so they can be on the look-out.
8) Every school has a fully operational kitchen with dishwasher and cooking staff. If it means hiring more workers, let’s think of it as a “stimulus plan.” It’s worth it not to truck in all of this stuff.
9) Every school incorporates new nutrition-based cooking curriculum to students of all ages and requires the students to enter the kitchen and learn basic snack and meal prep. Even pre-schoolers can spread peanut butter or soy-nut butter on celery and put little raisins on top.
10) Teach students where their food comes from by taking a trip to a farm or planting a school garden so that they can be invested in food and have an experience in DIRT! “Dirty” is not a bad word.
11) Actively incorporate recycling into the school program and instruct students on how to recycle and what can be recycled and why it’s important.
What do you want for students’ lunches? I’m going to write a School Lunch Bill of Rights based on my thoughts and your feedback/ideas.
I think what you have to say is progress. Though I would be interested in seeing cost benefit with reusable/washable trays and supplies. Our school in SE Houston had reasonable lunches. But in Amarillo, not so much. So we bring out lunch. We're homeschooling next year and I'm looking forward to providing better lunches than we otherwise pack.
I AM thankful for the fresh fruits and vegetables we have offered with most meal (one of each)(sometimes it's peaches with sauce, applesauce, or cooked veg). I totally agree with your remarks about the bringing back the dishwasher and hiring more help. I think that the styrofoam trays and the waste are horrific. Some say the detergents and the dishwashing stuff is bad for the environment too and I guess I am wondering what the impacts are relative to one another… I guess one can buy better for the envirnonment soaps and you really cannot buy better for degrading styrofoam trays, can you?
i've been following your blog for a while and i think all of the items on your "wish list" are great. i especially like the idea of teaching about recycling and minimizing the packaging. i also really like the idea of planting a school garden and teaching kids about cooking. i wish there had been a culinary arts type class in my high school. it is definitely something i would have taken advantage of. keep up the great work mrs. q!
I would add a fresh vegetable to the fresh fruit idea – carrot sticks, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes. Fresh veggies that are kid friendly. BTW, just found your blog and I am saddened by the quality of school lunch. I pack my daughter's lunch every day and have not yet faced the reality of what many of our children are being served at school. Thanks for raising awareness!
One more thing to add to your list: fully functioning drinking fountains that deliver water that is clean, safe and tastes good.
The whole bottled water thing is distressing. Kids should not have to pay to drink water. According to the movie Tapped, it takes a good chunk of oil to make the bottle and to transport it. Every school should have functioning drinking fountains. Once again, make it part of the stimulus plan.
Kids will peform better academically when they are well hydrated.
We don't need sports drinks, soda, fancy flavored "waters" or bottled water, we simply need functioning drinking fountains!
If I had a magic wand, that's what I'd want. That and a garden in every school.
I want to see children educated about the practical knowledge needed to grow, choose, store, and cook all kids of food. I also think this needs to be a part of the larger curriculum. It translates so easily to math, science, and a variety of other subjects.
It would be great if we could embrace local foods, rather than madating the same system for every state or region.
I have a simple addition tied to number 9. Schools need to teach kids basic nutrition before they get stuck in bad habits and/or addicted to stuff like fast food. Personally, I recall some, but it was never really tied into 'real world' scenarios.
Unfortunately, whatever company your school buys the food from would probably fight all of your suggestions.
Fresh food tastes better so I'd add regular participation in the Farm-to-School program. I'm with Jamie Oliver (on TED) that the flavored milks have got to go! k.emily's right about the gardens. Our goal is to get one in every school in Fairfield because the children will eat what they grow. And please, get rid of the ammonia treated ground beef.
I love the fruit idea. For part of the year last year, the kids received fresh fruit cut up in a container with a small amount of whipped cream/Cool Whip. It was just enough to get them excited, but not too much to worry about the sugar. They ate all of the fruit everytime. Why can't we offer that more?
our school just used a mini-grant from our district to plant a small garden on campus. participation at the 4-8 school was encouraging. our dishwasher has been broken apparently since the beginning of the school year, since we rotate between styrofoam and reusable plastic trays between grade levels. i asked the staff one day during my lunch duty and that was the story… when is it cheaper (not to mention healthier for the environment) to fix the washer instead of buying 700 trays each and every day?!
i can't think too much about how much garbage is produced by just my own school, let alone how much food is wasted, or i'd go crazy.
@striving bean – how could I forget that fresh veggies do make excellent snacks and @AR ambler – also food does translate great to math and word problems. not to mention language arts, describing similarities/differences and @anonymous I am going a little crazy with this project!
What an excellent list! I love every suggestion.
To carm:
There may not be "better for degrading" styrofoam trays, but there are trays that are far better than styrofoam. They have trays made of recycled pressed paper; they use them all over the place.
Your wish list is great! I truly believe this is possible…it's not just food, it's our health, our children's health…our future leaders health we are talking about and it's so very important. I would love to see a limit on the use of refined sugars or out a cap on items served i.e. 1 serving cannot have more than 5g (something like that) Items do not need to be loaded with sugar (like an icee) to taste good.
I would love to see real dishes used and cleaned daily instead of disposable. And if disposable is necessary use renewable sources (like bamboo utensils)
be cautious with the salad bar. my high school had one and while i knew what was healthy in a salad, it didn't stop me from eating chow mein noodles and bleu cheese dressing with tomato slices for lunch. mostly bleu cheese dressing and chow mein noodles. seriously. even fairly healthy toppings can be unhealthy when turned into the main portion of the meal.
i can just imagine some kids eating nothing but croutons in ranch dressing. because i had friends who did this.
ugh, now i have a craving for bleu cheese dressing on chow mein noodles.
[and this craving is why i know it's important to build good food habits at a young age!]
Out of curiosity, as I'm about to return to being a student (college), what would you consider a healthy well balanced lunch?
(Wouldn't mind seeing a photo of what you 'normally' eat as well 🙂 Interesting contrast I think )
I completely agree that actual fruit in the menu is a must – I'm just honestly lost for what I can pack for myself to take to class that will not only give me some energy to keep learning, but remain healthy.
I love the list too – but I think pushing nutrition into EVERY subject is a bit of a waste and distraction. Plenty of kids have a hard enough time with learning basic math or language skills, so when those subjects come up, that should be the focus. Maybe one day of addition and subtraction learning could be merged with calorie counting and exercise expenditure to show kids that math CAN have practical applications (man, how often to people whine about that with math! "what is this useful for!").
I think we should also be cautious about this new "eat right, exercise" trend. I think it is VERY important to eat right and exercise in order to feel good and be healthy. BUT – I think the message to send to kids should stop there and NOT begin to go into what body type is best. We want children to be heathlier and happier – not neurotic, anorexic, or perennially ashamed of their heavier frame.
@Lussuria
I tend to bring a salad – heavy on the veggies and light on the lettuce because lettuce is just a filler! (unless replaced with spinach or another colored green, like celery greens -yes, you can eat that part too! – or red lettuce). I also bring a small slice of bread – the kind you have to cut from the load yourself! I then bring something with some healthy fats in it, because you can't absorb all those nutrients without some fat – or feel full actually. So a slice of cheese, bit of fish, or a slice of fresh salami usually does it for me – but made an avocado or oily dressing will do for you! Then I round it out with two fresh fruits – one a basic banana, apple, mango slices, or the like, the other less calorie laden like a plum or clementine orange.
So other then the salad, most is grab and go – and the salad I make in a big batch. So pretty easy to do!
I agree with Susan Rubin's comment above on having fully functional drinking fountains.
I was looking at point 9 about the nutrition-based cooking curriculum, and thought about how this would apply to students who probably have different eating habits at home, especially those who are of a different race/culture. I guess that not only do we want students to learn about this (e.g. nutrition-based cooking, healthy eating habits etc.), we want to equip them with the skills to be able to use them at home. [This is also a reflection after watching Jamie Oliver's TED speech. Thanks for sharing the link btw!] Like what he mentioned, we want to equip our students with lifeskills.
I remember that as a kid I loved field trips – so I agree that field trips should be organized, at least once every year. Or the school could invite grocers/farmers/you-name-it to give a talk at the school, after which the teachers can follow-up on that with a short lesson or activity.
Also, this might seem like a no-brainer, but schools should provide a clean, well-ventilated space for students to have their meals. And ample time given for students as well. Regular health-checks are important. Adequate time allocated for physical activity/education each week. [My school had am 'extracurricular' physical fitness program for overweight kids, but I think that this sometimes led to ostracism, bullying, low self-esteem etc. Why not have a good physical fitness program for ALL students? Having an extra program seems to make other students think that they do not need that 'extra' exercise…]
1. We have pizza every Friday – a different type – because the kids LOVE it. It's served with a salad and a light low-fat Italian dressing is applied to it before hand.
2. We offer a 3 oz bag of baby carrots, a fruit cup AND a fresh piece of fruit (apple or orange) at every meal. The carrots are also available to anyone having hot lunch for a small price.
3. We do not serve ANY pre-packaged food for lunch. Everything is cooked directly on the premises or cooked at the high school and sent over and put into bins with warmers.
4. I don't know about any of you but Peanut Butter or anything Peanut based is an absolute NO GO in our food services program. We have a list of kids who are allergic to peanuts and they have to sit at their classes's "hot lunch" table even if they have cold lunch to avoid any contamination that could cause them an allergic reaction.
5. Last year we sold Soy Milk as an alternative to milk. We stopped this year because – no one was buying it.
6. We have a garden salad as one of the hot lunch choices. It's prepared over at the high school and sent over with everything else. It has iceberg lettuce (I know, but hey it's a salad), peppers, shredded carrots.
7. The bagel and salad lunches come with a container of yogurt, a box of raisins, a bag of carrots and a milk.
8. Water from the water fountain is available to everyone in the cafeteria. As long as they raise their hands and ask 🙂 . In warmer weather kids are allowed to bring water bottles. Actually any kind of weather.
9. As I mentioned before, our kids have a 1/2 hour of recess before lunch. Adequate time for socialization and running around so we prefer they spend their time eating their lunch and talking quietly among their table mates. Trust me, the 25 minutes they get is very adequate for them to get their lunches eaten.
10. We use styrofoam trays. We eliminated the plastic trays a few years ago probably because of the need to wash them. Trade off for keeping teachers I guess.
The more comments I read, the more I think my school system has it pretty darn good.
There is nothing wrong with serving frozen vegetables- kids like some of those blends and having seasonal fresh veggies is a lot to ask- they spoil so quickly. Our school has a fruit and a veg choice each day– along with too many carbs, too much fat and sugar and styrofoam. As Nancy just said, hiring extra staff to wash dishes is money away from classrooms. I'd like them to do it, but I wouldn't trade for a teacher.
Mrs. Q – Thank you again for your bringing attention to school nutrition issues. As School Nutrition Association President, I have witnessed many programs nationwide (including the program I run in Dallas Independent School District) that are meeting or working to achieve so many of these goals, including offering fresh fruit and salad bars to students, providing detailed nutritional information for their meals and working within the cafeteria and the school to educate students on good nutrition.
School nutrition professionals are challenged every day to prepare healthy, well-balanced school meals that meet federal nutrition standards but do not exceed the limited funds provided to prepare each meal. Unfortunately, the current federal reimbursement of $2.68 for each “free” school lunch served falls far below the average $2.92 per meal cost to prepare and serve a lunch. School meal expenses include not just the cost of the food, but also costs such as labor, benefits, supplies and rent. Between replacing and repairing costly kitchen equipment, rising expenses for everything from food to forks, and federal, state and local standards to meet, school nutrition programs struggle to remain in the black.
Very soon, Congress will reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act. You and your readers who want to see further improvements in school meals should encourage your elected officials to provide more funds for a greater variety of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and whole grains in school meals.
Dora Rivas, MS, RD, SNS
Re #9 our district has a mandatory home ec type course in the middle school as well as culinary classes in the high school and each have dedicated kitchens. As a cook in an elementary school I can only imagine the logistic nightmare of having classes of young children in my kitchen whilst preparing and serving hot food!
We do pretty much everything else on your list though and yes, I quarter the oranges 🙂
Great ideas. Your posts have been inspiring to me. I recently started this group on FB in order to help spread the word about the benefits of eating good food:
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.
(I tried to copy and paste the link, but for some reason I can't- just go to Facebook and type in the name of the group).
When I was in high-school ("Back in my day…") we were offered several lines for lunch: hot meal, snack bar, salad bar. The snack bar was rubbish (nachos, burgers), though very popular, but the salad bar was well-stocked and you could fill your plate. This wasn't a rich neighborhood, either. And elementary school–our Moms rotated through the kitchen. This may not be legal anymore, but the food was fantastic (granted, there are memories of a 6-to-11-year-old, but still). What has happened?!
Not only educating kids about where food comes from, but how it interacts with their bodies and how their bodies work. Health classes should be nutrition classes (real nutrition – not funded-by-the-dairy/meat/soy/or any other-lobby-nutrition) combined with basic anatomy and physiology. It's easier to keep your body healthy if you know how it works!
It's important for cafeterias to OFFER food and not SERVE food.
You have lots of great ideas but, like everything else, it all comes down to money. Lot of the discussions here are preaching to the choir. The big challenge is getting the real decision makers to jump on the bandwagon. THAT is the key to success. Unfortunately, they point out that they love your ideas but only have $X to work with. Contact your school board. Contact your representative in Congress. Talking on a blog is great but more than that is necessary for real change to take place.
Removal of soda from all schools, including high school snack bars. I agree on the water fountain idea.
At my high school, I often ate a giant chocolate chip cookie and a Coke for lunch- because it was uncool to eat cafeteria food or bring your lunch, and we weren't allowed off campus 'til we were Seniors. My parents gave me lunch money and I spent it on crap. Yes, my parents should have checked in with what I was doing- but I was a teen, and teens often don't listen.
If the school hadn't offered the sugary/salty/greasy snack bar, I'd have been hungry enough to eat the real food in the cafeteria. Part of what adults sometimes have to do for kids is NOT offer them bad choices, because often the kids will make that bad choice.
Lussuria–
You might want to check out a group on Flick'r called "Laptop Lunches," which is a compilation of pictures that people post daily of the lunches they pack in an American bento box-type system called a "Laptop Lunchbox." The lunches tend to be fairly healthy, because, even though the boxes themselves may look small, if you really think about health and balance (protein, veg, fruit, whole grains, etc.), and the built-in portion control, they really work out great. I try to get my act together to pack my lunch in it every day I go to work. I was even thinking of posting some of my pictures on the Flick'r group that Mrs. Q started, but I'm not sure that's the intent of her group. (Is it, Mrs. Q? Let me know.) I think you'll get loads of ideas for healthy lunches from the pictures.
By the way, I am not connected with the company at all except as a satisfied customer.
Forgive me if someone already posted this, but my number one request is:
Remove artificial colors from all children's food.
In the case of New York City. The nutritional information for the food can be found online.
@MsShelly's comment, I completely agree all soda should be removed, but that in itself is a whole other cost issue.
I am currently 1/2 way through reading Fast Food Nation…there's a chapter in there on schools alone. It talks about the contracts that big soda company's/vendors have with schools…these company's provide schools with money if they provide the vending machines on their campus.
Nixing the soda seems like a simple idea, but yet again there is MONEY behind it. So sad.
You might be interested in this Web site: http://www.edibleschoolyard.org
You go, Girrrl! Do you know about the Lunch Box? Their site is still under construction, but they are adding new tools for changing school lunch programs at the local and national levels every day, including recipes for healthy cafeteria lunches.
You might also be interested in the Baltimore School Cafeteria Bill of Rights, instigated by the students themselves, who demanded healthier lunches.
My wish would be that education would come first, with teachers actively involved, doing something like Mrs. Q’s suggestion of modeling. I’d envision an adult eating with smaller groups of students, encouraging quiet conversation, calming the students so they would eat carefully, modeling the consumption of the appropriate foods, assisting smaller children in wise choices & portions at a bar type service area, and so on.
This would potentially make it easier to integrate foods that might not be as familiar to the students.
I teach a culinary science course for 6th graders, with about 30 students per class. (I'm keeping a blot on it right now.) The first time we hit the kitchen as a group, we managed to turn out lunch in an hour and fifteen minutes: salad, garlic bread, baked ziti, some cookies. The cost per student was approximately $2 per head. It's possible to do this for cheap (and probably easier if you're a pro.)
I would love for our schools to have gardens where kids could grow some of the fresh veggies offered as sides in lunches. I'm excited about your blog and the possibility of school lunch changes in the future. Betsey, Holland, MI
@ Henry–
What was the protein element of the $2/student lunch? That's often where the expense comes in. Was there enough meat in the baked ziti to qualify as a balanced lunch? If not, bread, ziti, and cookies sounds like a lot of carbs . . . and I'm assuming, though I could be wrong, that they were probably not whole grain carbs. Any fruit or vegs other than the salad? I applaud the idea, but I'm not sure that that particular menu is the best example of a well-balanced, affordable, healthy one. Maybe some of your other lunches are better?
Traditionally crops are grown in SOIL, not DIRT. From an agricultural perspective, dirt is soil that is out of place. I've made the mistake plenty of times in my life as well.
these are all great ideas. my wish list would also include:
1. no canned food, or big reduce in its use – go for fresh.
2. use local produce when possible.
3. organic if possible at least for the "dirty dozen"
4. remove foods with artificial sweetners, HFCS, other artificial junk as much as possible
5. no candy machines or soda machines. my school never had these and i lived to tell about it! 🙂 Milk or water are better options. I'm not a big fan of juice either – too much sugar, but it's better than soda.
I love the idea of a garden on school grounds, even an urban garden can help teach kids about food and good eating habits. Classes for this is a wonderful idea, as many sadly are not learning this at home.
Trisha
http://www.amomsblog.wordpress.com
How about incorporating some home economics into the school lunch program by getting the kids involved in planning and possibly preparing meals, with incentives for coming in under budget (extra $$ can be used to purchase special treats — either food treats or other).
We only cut out fast and convenient food a couple years back. We assumed we'd be paying more for meals, enjoying them less, and would gain weight (since we weren't restricting anything or eating "healthy"). To our surprise, we ended up eating more delicious meals than we ever had in high-end restaurants, spending a small fraction of what we used to, AND we both lost weight. It would be great if kids could get onto this early.
beautiful.
I'm not exactly sure who said it, but something was mentioned about nutrition education being implemented into everyday basics like math, science, reading, etc. as not as important? I'd agree that a child learning to read or learning basic math skills are very important, but how well can this child learn if he/she can't concentrate because there was too much sugar or not enough protein in his/her lunch? In order to excel in society, our basics must be provided: water, food, shelter, and clothing. If one (or more) of these are not fully met, then our minds simply wander and think of the thing(s) that would satisfy our unmet need. I know at least mine does 🙂
Transparency from the school board, education board or whoever is calculating the cost per head required to feed each child in school. I would really like to know (and I think not just me) how these costs and expenses are calculated.
Personally, I get a little doubtful/uneasy when someone just pulls out a figure without much substantiation. I would really like to see some accounting and accountability.
I'd like to cast a vote for more time to eat the meal. At my son's school, meal time and his one recess of the day are lumped into the same block of time. Kids race through their meal because no one goes outside until the entire class is ready for recess. He's so accustomed to eating fast that I'm noticing it at home. I counted two nights ago as he chewed and swallowed. TWO CHEWS for bites that were enormous. He's not only being fed unhealthy food but he's developing unhealthy habits and atrocious manners.
This is my first visit to your blog. I commend you for your efforts and for going the extra mile like this. At my son's school, teachers do not eat with children and aren't even necessarily eating the same foods. I think that teachers should eat with their class. It would improve lunchroom behavior and set a great example in so many ways.
Kudos to you!
The Ithaca City School District (upstate New York) composts lunch trays. In the 1990s, they started recycling plastic trays, but then their local recycling plant closed. In 2007 they switched to biodegradable/compostable trays, and they also compost food waste. It took a lot of work to hammer out the logistics, and cooperation from everyone, but they now pay less for hauling waste (though the trays cost a bit more than the styrofoam). It takes the backing of those at the top too. Dale McLean is their Child Nutrition Program Director, her number is (607) 274-2302.
#2 – Sliced fruit – My mom, who was a lunch lady, never stopped pushing this very idea. She saw countless apples wind up in the garbage with 1 bite out of them. The minute they cut them up, waste went down, consumption went up.
Good luck.
Just one other thing I'd like to see: vegetarian options. I know a lot of vegetarian families, and school menus definitely don't cater to them. My friend's vegetarian daughter was accidentally fed some chicken nuggets when she forgot her lunch and they didn't bother to call or check her health info card for allergies or dietary restrictions!
only saw one post mentioning "home ec" type classes….are you aware that these classes still exist? Now called Family & Consumer Science in Ohio (many other states have changed names too) with new standards and benchmarks which reflect beautifully wih many of the above wishes and desires! I know, I happen to teach "Healthy Foods" to a great group of Junior High School students in NW Ohio. I begin with understanding six basic Nutrients, then the Guidelines to Good Health, and then focus on the recommendations of the Food Guide Pyramid. Students learn what a real serving size is, not what restaurants serve, and that creating food at home from scratch doesn't necessarily have to be too time intensive, but in fact can be easy, efficient and place you in a position of personal power. It's all about choices. Having the power to choose what will empower you for life or disempower you for a future of poor health. Also in our standards are the importance of choosing Local foods as well as practicing sustainable environmentalisn in the kitchen and home. Check with your school districts to see if they have a Family & Consumer Science department, then call or visit the teacher and offer her your support. She'll be grateful. My studetns love it when I have speakers from our local community share theri expertise. And by the way, my lunches lately have been this: In a plastic container (that I reuse of course) 1/2 C brown rice on bottom 1 C of roasted vegetables (I roast a HUGE load of veggies on Sundays at home) topped with fresh Spinach. Dump it upside down on a plate and Microwave for about a minute……..oh so good. A great local grown apple for dessert and I can get through thoae last three classes no problem! If you want to see that lunch go to my blog http://www.kaylynne50.wordpress.com, and go back to the Feb 2nd post. Leave me a comment there. Yea, I know shameless self promotion……..
Okay, here's my lofty wish list for school lunches:
– Grass-fed meats, meat products (from local, sustainable farms), and dairy products that aren't processed and full of hormones, antibiotics, and don't get raised on feedlots eating corn, soy, and grain. Hello? Cattle are ruminants, meaning, they get sick when they eat that cheap, genetically-modified industrial waste.
– Real, whole breads, brown, germinated rice, and other similar foods in moderate amounts made from sprouted and soaked grains. Healthy choices should also be made available for people who can't eat grains – as there are so many now that have issues. So instead of a sandwich, how about a piece of chicken, steak, or pork with vegetables, real butter, and potatoes? Wow, what a concept!
– fresh and freshly cooked organic or local vegetables and fruits served both in the salad bar and as a side to accompany main entrees.
– Healthy desserts that include nutrient-dense foods like real fruit with real cream or real, whole milk yogurt, sprouted nuts, and cinnamon with a bit of real maple syrup. You may think I'm kidding, but keep reading.
– Real fats to give children energy and to grow and develop their minds and bodies. Children need fats, and plenty of them. But they need the real thing – olive oil, coconut oil, butter, real tallow and lard from sustainable sources – hey, you can fry potatoes in these fats – they are saturated and have a high heat point, and don't go rancid when they are being cooked like canola oil and other processed, fake, industrial oils. McDonald's used to cook their fries in tallow up until 1983 when they switched to genetically-modified, rancid, industrial oils that are cheap to produce.
People have been eating foods the way I described above for millennia and had much better health than anyone in modern day who has embraced this bizarre new way of eating where everything we eat is completely unnatural. And many people are puzzled to the outer limits of space as to why we have all the health problems we do.
If you think what I've proposed here is unreasonable, think of all the health problems we are facing, and then remember how much less other countries who eat like this spend on health care. We spend 9 percent on food and 17 percent on healthcare, while they spend the reverse.
And other school districts have already done this, WITHOUT raising taxes. Berkeley (Chef Ann Cooper – who is also doing something similar in Colorado) and Toni Geraci in Baltimore are two prime examples of pioneers who have not taken no for an answer and are bringing the children of those schools many of the foods I have mentioned above. So it can be done!
http://www.agriculturesociety.com/?p=2151