Food Bytes

My kids take their lunch to school and it's all good. They've learned at a young age that you are what you eat.
The cafeterias at their Junior and Senior High Schools are not good. Lots of deep fryers there! I wish the Eastern end of the school system would catch up to the West!

The food service is contracted out and there doesn't seem to be much control over the food content from the school admin.

Very little healthy food and what little is there (like fruit cups) runs out in no time leaving many giant cookies, fries etc...

We aren't really doing our kids any good by having this sort of food there.

The food contract , I've heard, is a BIG money maker for the school. If the switch to healthy food happens, they say that the kids will all just go off school grounds at lunch and buy their food at the many, many fast food restaurants nearby. Whatever. It should never be about the money and lost revenue. At least they would be getting some exercise en route!

It MUST be about setting a good example and providing healthy, unprocessed food. Fruit, veggies, whole grain breads, etc...

Maybe it's too idealistic for today's reality, but if kids aren't getting the right guidance at home about healthy eating, then surely the schools can contribute to the education of students on this point.

We can't just give up on them and continue to feed them junk.

You wrote:

"And one of the ways it is taught is in the schools, where it is not unusual for kids to sit down to a proper meal at lunchtime with their teacher. They are not only learning about different foods, but about table etiquette and the value of sitting down to a meal with friends."

Several comments: Why are the schools expected to teach about different foods and mealtime etiquette? Are these students at a boarding school? If not, where are the parents? Shouldn't the pupils have been learning about these things long before entering school?

Having taught in the public schools for almost 40 years, I would like to see the schools get out of the food business altogether and get back to the job of teaching. Parents should get back to the job of parenting and that includes feeding your children appropriately and teaching them how to eat in a civilized manner at a table. I certainly didn't learn table manners at school and neither did my children.

One final point. Why do schools feel they have the right to tell parents what to feed their children? I am teacher and I would feel most uncomfortable telling a parent that the hot dog they sent with their child for lunch wasn't good for them. I should tell them that a turkey wiener and whole wheat bun would have been a lot better than the white bun and the mystery meat wiener? Not this teacher. I don't want the job of food police. How about schools that ban certain foods or snacks? Where do we as teachers get the right to forbid a parent to send along a little candy as a school treat? To be clear, I have a legal obligation, as we all do, to report abuse and neglect, such as a child never having food to eat, to the appropriate child care authorities in your jurisdiction and I have done so.

We really do need to re-think school lunches.... long and hard!

I am in my 29th year of teaching and recently (after my entire career teaching literature) am teaching Foods at a junior high school in Edmonton. The motivation for this transition was the rapid change in our culture regarding healthy eating in our youth. I arrive at 7:30 am, and a few students are there before me - already eating pop and chips and junk they have bought at the stores on their way to school. I understand, and believe this will be the first generation of youth that will die considerably younger than their parents. They eat processed, prepackaged food, and junk food as their staple diet. Most of their parents do not even know how to cook. They love my class. They are totally interested in learning this lost art. I have started a catering club after school on Tuesday and Wednesdays ffom 3-4:30, and any one can come. I got a food handling certificate from AB Health services that enables my students to cook nutitious lunches for their peers. We do this every Friday. I take preorders, and we can not keep up with the demand. It is a cost recover lunch offering. Students are crazy about learning how to make nutitious, delicious and economic food. They love to eat it. They are not very adventurous, but once a peer expressed the big "YUM", they are in, too. This is a fantastic project with amazing results. Our district has finally banned the sale of junk food - effective 2010 September. But, student leadership still provides junk choiices for dances. Our catering club gets to do the next dance, and it will be really wild for the student body to see what delectable choices they can have instead of chips, pop, and chocolate. This is a huge concern of mine for the entire nation. I believe there needs to be a very specific focus put on this daily by the media. Parents do want to do the best for their children, but they are believing that granola bars are a good choice, and provide them daily. Not as an occasionaly alternative. We need a voice from the media to provide the nutritional facs to be a counterpart to these massive advertizing campaigns designed to get their product sold. And far, far too many are buying.

I'm not sure where you are from but here in Ontario our kids don't get served any lunch. We parents pack a lunch and we hope that that is what the kids eat. It would be nice for the school to teach table manners but I know that isn't whats happening here. Agreeable that they are lucky if they have time to eat what is sent before they are rushed outdoors so the teachers can have their break. Not a healthy practice.

Hmmm, how interesting! My son attends grade school, and I am a high school teacher. At either school I would LOVE to see students sitting down properly with their teachers to eat (and I'm a teacher, so sign me up for that duty, I don't mind!) during a time that is protected from all other demands. I would like to see a salad/fruit bar, and a choice between two main courses, neither one pandering to the salt/sugar overlords. Food is one of life's great pleasures, and learning how to eat with variety, nutritiously and with etiquette can be part of the school day. I honestly think it would be a pleasure. However, I don't think the day will come when I see this happening at either school...the grade school doesn't have the facilities, and the time table of the high school has kids shoving whatever is convenient down their throats while they rush off to whatever extra-curricular activity they have going on.

Apologies for the long post, but on a related topic, has anyone noticed how darn expensive fresh vegetables are getting? Another reason for never seeing a salad bar at school...french fries are WAAAAAY cheaper. Students can buy a big plate of french fries with ketchup, etc., for $2, while the same price will buy you a handful of salad. If I were a ravenous teenager, I'd definitely be buying the fries!

I fully agree. Beyond the issues that are inherent to mass-production of food at schools and its poor nutritive quality, basic dining education should be included in schools. Throughout elementary school, my classmates and I had to sit down to a meal with our teacher. Over the years and thanks to our teacher's kind instruction, we learned basic etiquette at the dinner table. No, we did not learn about seating arrangements or folding napkins, but we did learn manners. As I continue my education at law school, I have been struck by how important these basic skills are. Although not a universal practice, many potential employers take students to dinner as part of the interview process. Some people may be wondering how applicable that scenario is to them, but these skills are also useful when going on a dinner date.

My son attends Inglis School, which a few years ago was voted one of the top 25 schools in Canada for its size by Parent Magazine.
The monthly food order for November includes, among other things, a roast beef dinner and - yes - ratatouille! Who says you have to live in France to have healthy meals served at your school? All you need is a group of concerned and engaged parents sitting on the Parent Advisory Council and school staff who are dedicated to the health and well-being of their students. Inglis School continues to excel in all areas of building in to the lives of their students.

school cafeteria's need to get healthier food!

My daughter's school has a reverse lunch where the kids go out to play first and then come in for lunch. I think that is a great idea. Kids care more about play than they do about lunch, so give them what they want first. They are hungrier and ready for some food!

I have only one child. She entered the school system last year. I was amazed to find out that the children only have 20 mins to eat their food and then get pushed out the door to play. Much the same as the other posts I've been reading, have been complaining about.

In our school, there isn't time for the children to line up and wash their hands before they eat. The school is too small for a cafeteria. The time restriction is so great that my offer of a homemade hot lunch to the students was denied. Fast food hamburger or a slice of whole wheat cheese pizza. Wow, now that's an ideal lunch - NOT!!

Here's what my choices are - if anyone can give me/us better suggestions, I'd love (seriously) to hear about it;

-rubber meat sandwich (not going to happen)
-tuna fish sandwich - no more than twice a week
-bento box/ploughman's lunch - olives, cheese, bread, boiled eggs, cucumber slices, celery sticks etc.
-soup
-left overs from the previous dinner kept warm in a thermos

Snacks;

-yogurt
-fruit
-cheese
-apple sauce
-fruit cups (when the cupboard's bare)
-whole grain crackers

These foods do not sound too bad now that I see them on paper - however, she's getting bored of all this stuff and wants what we usually have for lunch when she's at home - a big hot meal. Lunch is our big meal and dinner's a salad, or veggie stir fry.

How do I tell her that all the stuff the other children bring are not only unhealthy, they can be dangerous!! 1 in 3 children born in the year 2000 will develop two of the most deadliest diseases, type 2 diabetes and heart disease - all because of their diets and sedentary lifestyle!! Several of these students that bring poor lunches are already obese - not over weight, but obese - it's the saddest thing I've ever seen.

What happened to walking home, eating lunch and then walking back? An hour for lunch is the most appropriate thing for children!!

If there's a way we can make a difference to the time line of the school system I'd love to be a part of it!!

My relatives are frm France and we often discuss the lunch situation. I too wish our lunch time routine and menu took aspects of their system and applied them here.

Agree with the basic suppositions put forward by the author however, I've been a strong proponent of fighting the battles that engage the correct enemy! Deep fryers more often than not do produce empty calories in the form of french fries and breaded chicken fingers however, conventional wisdom needs to change regarding the true enemy - empty processed carbohydrates (and not "fat" per se).
In research that consistently overturns the well meaning anti-fat camp, studies by Harvard Medical and many others find that the traditional thinking that "fat turns into vein sludge" and "eating cholesterol creates more cholesterol" are as silly and out of date as the notion that "smoking tobacco is not a significant health risk"!
Here in the USA, we live in a "soda pop" culture where kids are often drinking 32 or more ounces of sugary drinks a day (and almost as bad, "fruit juice"), and I believe this is where we need to direct our attention. Throw in white bread, pasta and other simple carbohydrates and it's easy to understand why a significantly fat-reduced North America continues to become more obese and diabetic!

yikesboy

What happened to walking home, eating lunch and then walking back? An hour for lunch is the most appropriate thing for children!!

Good question Medic91. Well, my kids do as we live only two blocks from the school. It is always a rush because they get 45 minutes for lunch break instead of the usual hour. This was done as a cost saving measure; they don't have to pay the supervision aides as much if they chop 15 minutes off. Considerable savings over a year!! As I said, coming home for lunch is a big rush, but my kids prefer it to staying at school.

If they were to stay at school they get 15 minutes to eat and then 25 minutes outside (unless the weather is harsh). That is only 40 minutes as the warning bell sounds to call them back in and that is the effective end of the break.

I am surprised that so many respondents, who are also parents and teachers too, still want the schools to teach table manners and I was trying to think of why that should be. Is it because you think, "My kids have good manners but man, those others. Someone should teach those kids how to eat properly! Or is it because you don't feel confident in your own table manners and don't want to pass on bad manners. Or is it because you can't be bothered, don't have time and don't care. Before you go and get all offended, take a minute to think about it. Why DO I want the school to teach my child how to eat properly at meal times?

I'm going to suggest you likely have two times each day, and maybe three to teach proper table manners, for most of the year. Even if you just sat down once a day as a family to eat, starting at age 2 until they go to kindergarten, that is still about 1000 opportunities to instil good table manners in your children. So why would you want to school to take on that task?

It’s amazing that we have access to them most abundant and varied food in human history yet, as a society, we eat so poorly. While healthy food may take more effort (because it’s not frozen, packaged and microwave ready), it can be cheaper in the long run. Weather I am at work or school I try to always bring my own lunch. At least I can control how much industrial sludge gets squeezed into it. For better or for worse, most families are now two income, long work days and kids are merely ferried between organized activities. Parents are less willing to sit down and have family meals, especially home cooked ones. I think more life skills in general need to be taught in schools. Kids need to learn financial, nutrition and civics (political and social) basics, because it is not expected to be taught at home. We can not expect the television and the internet to teach it them without inserting a vulgar and unhealthy commercial agenda.

Relying on lunch monitors to teach table etiquette becomes a culturally dangerous thing. Not too long ago a local school lunch monitor here in the Montreal suburbs reprimanded a Philippino child for eating like a pig, when in fact the 7-year-old in question was eating in the traditional Philippino way, that is, with a fork and spoon, pushing the food on his plate into the spoon with a fork. My bad manners and may be my neighbours good ones, and vice versa.

Check out how Jamie Oliver changed the school lunches served in schools in England. All about nutritional meals. Many kids didn't have a clue what a nutritional meal was!