Choice Bits: While Waiting for Jamie Oliver

It’s no secret that school food, more often than not, is simply awful. The first season of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution made an indelible impression, and exposed some of the seemingly insurmountable constraints facing school cafeterias. Next, Jamie takes on the Los Angeles school district, with the second season scheduled to premiere on April 12th:

“It is easier to get a gun, crack, or a prostitute in a lot of areas in Los Angeles before you can get a tomato.”

 

— L.A. school administrator, from preview of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, via Eater.com

However, there are those who are taking on the task of nourishing healthy children and, with passion and commitment, are making real changes. Doris Demers, the Director of School Nutrition for York and Kittery, is just one of the many here on the Seacoast:

“It doesn’t matter to me if a tomato or a pepper isn’t perfect to look at. We’ll just dice it up and use it in the lunches,” says Doris. “The more local a fruit or vegetable, the fresher it is because it doesn’t have to travel across the country.”

 

— from “The Challenge of School Lunch,” The York Independent

 ”Beef is one of those things that really concerned me,” she said. “You see so many recalls and food borne illnesses; it’s a director’s nightmare.” Grass fed beef comes at a cost for consumers, and for the school. Demers is paying 70 cents a patty for grass fed beef, compared to paying only the cost of shipping for the USDA commodity beef, a price of about a nickel a patty. The 70-cent cost does not include the whole wheat bun, or any toppings from the salad bar. Added together, each burger she serves, costs the school $1, double the price of the typical cafeteria meal. ”It’s just something I felt was really worthwhile,” she said.

 

 — from “Kittery, York Schools move to grass fed beef,” SeacoastOnline.com

A little further north, children had their own say with Slow Food Portland’s inaugural Young Food Writers Competition. Zoe Popovic, a fourth grader in Westbrook, ME, wrote about what school lunch means to her in her winning essay, “The Season in my stomach”:

I usually bring my own lunch to school. Sometimes the kids that buy lunch tease me. It used to bother me, but it doesn’t anymore. I know where my food comes from. I have seen it in the fields; I’ve dug my own potatoes. My food is always changing. I can tell the season by what is in my lunch box. Starting the year with the summer harvest and the green taste of basil on my juicy tomato and mozzarella sandwich. Before I know it I have a thermos filled with butternut squash ravioli with sweet apples just picked over the weekend. In winter the staples from our farm share – rice and beans. I know summer vacation is on its way when my lunch turns green again with veggie wraps filled with baby greens. I also see yogurt mixed with the preserves from last summer’s days spent picking blueberries and I know that soon I will be back in those fields…

 

— from “Soup to nuts: eat, write, say,” The Portland Press Herald

And now it’s your turn — the Child Nutrition Act was passed in 2010 and, as the USDA figures out how to move from legislation to implementation, they are seeking input. The comment period is open until April 13th, coincidentally the day after Jamie returns. Help urge the USDA to:

• encourage schools to offer local, seasonal fruits and vegetables wherever possible.

• provide training and technical assistance on how to purchase locally grown products.

• partner with the Department of Education to help build food and nutrition education in the schools.

• work with other agencies and Congress to restore equipment funding as an essential line item within school meals programming.

 

— from “Tell USDA how you feel about school lunch,” Slow Food USA

This entry was posted on April 5, 2011 at 5:00 am and is filed under author: Debra, eating locally in the media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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