I haven’t shared any interesting news items in awhile. Here we go…
SCHOOL FOOD:
Food Truck to Feed Kids in the Summer? What brilliant innovation! Chef Tim Cipriano rockin’ it in Connecticut:
(Up!) NEW HAVEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS CENTRAL KITCHEN UNVEILS FOOD TRUCK TO PROVIDE FREE SUMMER MEALS FOR KIDS (NH School Food: Notes from Chef Tim)
(Up!) CHEFS MOVE TO SCHOOLS BRINGS PIZZA TRUCK TO NHPS ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL SUMMER PROGRAM (NH School Food: Notes from Chef Tim)
(Up!) Massachusetts Bans Chocolate Milk (Better DC School Food) — Kids don’t need the sugar every single day.
(Up!) Exclusive Interview with Kathleen Merrigan: Farm to School Movement Comes of Age (Civil Eats) — Farm to School is moving up. I love this quote from the interview: Farm to School is “also good for farmers’ bottom lines, economically. Particularly for that struggling mid-size commercial farmer, who could really use a local institutional buyer. We’ve seen it make a difference in their viability in a number of states where farm to school has taken off.”
(Down!) Getting Drinking Water Into School Cafeterias – Not As Easy As It Sounds (The Lunch Tray) — You might be surprised how difficult it is to get plain water on the tables at schools.
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FOOD:
(Up/Down) McDonald’s has decided to offer more “healthy” foods in its Happy Meals. Part of me is thrilled by this small change as the company *maybe* is thinking a little bit about its role in childhood health and well-being. But another part of me is, like totally, “big whoop.” Until they cut the fries out completely AND drop the soda, I won’t be having a party. By the way, I’m a potato lover, but there are more ways to prepare them that putting them in a basket and lowering them into a fryer. What other bloggers think:
- Let’s talk about McDonald’s Happy Meals changes (Marion Nestle, Food Politics)
- Three Reasons Why the New Happy Meal is Still Problematic (Andy Bellatti, Small Bites)
- McDonald’s Improves Happy Meals: Meaningful Change or Corporate Whitewashing? (The Lunch Tray)
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(Up!) Google’s impressive healthy food program (Marion Nestle, Food Politics) — I knew that Google was a terrific company to work for, but I didn’t realize they had their own food program. I should have known. And since they do a lot of things right, they get the food thing right as well. Maybe one day I’ll get a chance to tour their facility!
(Up!) There are no bad foods (and five more industry lies) (Andrew Wilder, Eating Rules) — Right on the money!
I never really thought about it, but you’re right. I couldn’t get water at lunch unless I went to the water fountain (no cup) or paid for a bottle of water outside of my normal lunch cost.
The logistics of getting the water to the tables are pretty astounding. Thanks for commenting!
Google’s food is fantastic! I interviewed with them in Mountain View a few weeks ago, and I had lunch with my recruiter – I was only on a satellite campus in a small cafe (really a small cafeteria, but i think they call them cafes) and the food was wonderful. Healthy, delicious, vegan and vegetarian options, everything labelled with a red, yellow, or green label to indicate how often you should eat it. Ingredients listed, great salad bar – I was so sad not to have gotten the job, because eating like that every day would be wonderful. They also have shelves sitting around of all the best healthy, natural packaged snacks like luna bars, Food Should Taste Good chips – it was wonderful.
Eating at Google I think might have to go on my bucket list! Thanks for commenting (and sorry you didn’t get the job — hope everything worked out in the end)
I’m really happy about the choice to make apples the default in the Happy Meals. I work at McDonald’s, and when I ask a parent if their kid wants fries or apples, you’d think it was the hardest choice they ever had to make. About half the families I serve don’t even KNOW we offer apples. I see a lot of parents get fries and soda with the happy meals because it’s apparently easier to order, then switch when they actually get the food because the child has told them they want something healthier.
That’s great — thanks for sharing that comment. This could be a great thing!
Hi Mrs. Q!
First, thank you very much for linking to the Lunch Tray story about getting water into schools. I think a lot of readers aren’t aware that this is even supposed to happen this year and even fewer realize that what sounds easy can be really hard for some districts.
But on the “Massachusetts Bans Chocolate Milk” link – just so readers know, the new Massachusetts rules apply to “competitive” foods, i.e., foods *outside* the federal school lunch, such as foods sold in vending machines and as fundraisers. There is no ban of which I’m aware that applies to flavored milk in MA cafeterias.
Thanks for doing these news round-ups – so helpful!
Bettina
Bettina, you just get better and better at blogging. I wish I could blog as good as you do. I feel like I’m falling down on the job most of the time!
You are too kind, Mrs. Q! And you are not falling down on the job – you just have a lot going on! 🙂
I understand that Happy Meals aren’t the best food for kids, even with the new healthier options. But I just wanted to point out that it’s not McDonald’s job to make sure kids eat right. Seems like a no-brainer, right? But apparently a lot of people think that fast food restaurants have some kind of obligation to provide healthy food for kids. They don’t. But parents do have an obligation to do their best to keep their kids healthy and teach them good eating habits, and don’t buy them Happy Meals more often than is reasonable. There’s nothing wrong with eating fast food occasionally. No kid is going to become obese from eating a Happy Meal with fries and a soda once a month. It’s up to parents to know that feeding their kids Happy Meals every day is going to make them fat and unhealthy. Parents who do think it’s ok to eat fast food every day probably aren’t going to choose the healthy options anyway.
I have a friend who just started working at Google about two months ago. Good news, free (some healthy) food. The bad, a REALLY high prevalence of high carb, non nutritional items (chips, bagels, etc.). She’s VERY afraid of putting on the ‘Google 15’ as her new colleagues call it.