“I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace is twenty minutes. It involves Russia.” -Woody Allen
I’m making incredibly slow progress in Free For All. Time is my enemy, not the book.
I’ve finished Chapter Two, which covers some of the history of school lunch. Let’s just say that there is way more than meets the eye. Just like so many things in life, the reason kids get lunch at school is a lot more complex than it seems. Did you know that little baby pigs figure in to the story? I’m not going to give it away, but feel free to comment below about how baby pigs fit into the picture.
The discussion question for this week is What surprised you about the history of school lunch? My answer: the baby pigs running through the streets of Chicago (p 48). I didn’t see that one coming.
I’ve taken your suggestions and decided to name the book club “Lunch Literature Book Club.” Additionally, when we choose a new book in March, I’ll let you guys choose it and also I’ll have you help me lead the discussion because as you can see I wasn’t born to be a book club leader! 🙂
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Lisa Suriano of Veggiecation appeared on TV in New York (video below) to discuss how her nutrition education program works. She brought along some adorable little broccoli tasters. It’s worth checking out what Ms. Suriano, a Titanium Spork Award Winner, had to say about her creative approach to getting veggies into schools — great job!
I guess I was most surprised that one of the reasons behind the NSLP was because the US Army was complaining about undernourished soldiers. The reason this surprised me so was because just last year the US Army was complaining about overweight soldiers. Hmmmmmmm… sure made me take pause.
Thanks, I just placed a hold on this at my library. Hmm, I will take a guess — the kids dissected baby pigs in science class, and then they decided they might as well use the remains to make lunch? I'm sure that's right. 🙂
this is not along the book lines, but I was at school on friday for my son's birthday and during lunch I was in the cafe. The lunch that day was tater tots, mac & cheese, peas and also biscuits! good golly – carb overload!!! Oh and also peaches & the neon green slushie thingy. The little boy next to me said he didn't like peaches when i asked if he was going to eat those. So i asked him if he'd do me a favor and try one. He did and I asked & he said he still didn't like them. (he took 1 tiny square on his spork) I asked if he could do me a favor the next time they had peaches and try 2 pcs next time. He said he would. Again, the idea of kids having to try things up to 10 times before they might like it. It was sad to see all those children eating that lunch!!
I think I was most surprised that school lunch started so early. When I started first grade (in a suburban Chicago school) there was no hot lunch. You went home or you packed–I lived close and went home but always wanted to eat lunch at school. My AAUW book club had a tangent a few months ago and many of them remember when hot lunch came to our town–and it was controversial because "what woman wouldn't be home for her kids at lunchtime with a hot meal?" Not a very good woman–was the implication. Both of these events would have been early to mid 1970s.
I'm on the last chapter and am finding it really interesting–thanks for suggesting this title.
@ Jodie – Funny you wanted to eat lunch at school… I was always so jealous of the kids in my school who got to go home for lunch, I went to a smallish private elementary school that was 20 minutes minutes away from home.