Events

11/30/2005 Nutrition and Schools Forum

4 Comments

Rafael Gomez and volunteers from this site are hosting a Forum on Nutrition Wednesday evening, November 30, 2005 from 7 to 8p.m. at the McDaniels Auditorium [Map]. The event will discuss the following questions:

  1. Should schools serve lunch?
  2. What kind of food would be best to serve?
  3. How do students feel about their lunch at school?
  4. If the public feels strongly about improving what is being served in their school, how could they raise the profile of this issue?

Participants include:

4 thoughts on “11/30/2005 Nutrition and Schools Forum”

  1. Hello Jim,
    This is unrelated to the current post, but I wanted to thank you for mentioning our program, “Here on Earth” at Wisconsin Public Radio. I was googling our show, seeing who was talking about us, when I ran into your blog and an entry from July about our conversation on podcasting.
    At the time, you correctly noted that we were not on the podcasting bandwagon. I’m happy to report that has changed. You can now subscribe to Jean Feraca’s “Here on Earth” at I-Tunes, podcastalley.com, our own podcast site – http://www.wpr.org/hereonearth/podcast.cfm – and many other podcast directories.
    I hope you can give us a listen. Thanks and best wishes…

  2. My own comment, on the other hand, is on topic. 🙂
    I am glad to see a forum like this coming up. I only hope either my husband or I can make it. Our kids have a choice each day as to whether to bring lunch or have hot lunch at school. Many kids at our school don’t – it’s school lunch or nothing for them. And I can tell you, tons of garbage comes out of our school in the weeks when we have MMSD’s questionable version of “chicken teriyaki” and “Salisbury Steak”. Our kids are pretty healthy eaters and willing to eat at least some of each thing from their hot lunches – UNLESS it is one of those particularly unappetizing selections. Those are the days when everyone brings cold lunch. And we usually end up with more variety in a cold lunch each day that our kids will actually eat, than hot lunch does 4 out of 5 days.
    Even the stuff that they do like – for example, chicken tenders and pizza – are usually served with unappetizing sides, so they end up hungry anyway, because there is not enough of the entree to make up for not wanting everything else. Then again, they are hungry half the time immediately after lunch anyway, because they have a grand total of 15-20 minutes to get and eat lunch before they are pushed outside for recess. So, unless they are planning on giving the kids more time to eat, increasing the appeal of what is available will only help so much…

  3. Serve breakfast instead, for one thing. A good, hearty eggs and sausage, etc breakfast, so that kids aren’t hungry at 9:00, looking for sugary snacks and drinks.
    Ref: “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” by Sally Fallon
    “Potatoes, Not Prozac” by DesMaisons, Kathleen, Ph.D.
    Skip lunch, if budgets require it. Serve breakfast thru noon.
    Don’t forget exercise to stimulate the brain at the low spots in the afternoon.

  4. I just had to comment on this lunch topic. Please, parents…investigate your school’s lunch program before you lump it in as garbage. I run the lunch program for our school. Our bread, desserts (other than jello and cinnamon rolls), soups, casseroles and most of the other main entrees are all homemade. Our kids enjoy selections such as Cheesy Potato Soup, Chicken legs with mashed potatoes and Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole, along with typical kid foods such as Hamburgers and Hot Dogs. 80-90% of our students take hot lunch, and only a 5 of them are ‘everyday-ers’. The rest bring cold lunch when something doesn’t appeal to them.
    The state mandates how much of each thing we are required to serve (portion sizes of protein, fruit/vegetable, etc) but I (and the kids) create the menu. The kids know that if something isn’t going over well, it will be pulled off the menu. They also know that if they want to see something on the menu to let me (or their teacher) know and we’ll see what we can do. Egg salad is now on the menu with some of our soups because of a few kids request. I was surprised how many kids liked it!
    In contrast, kids who have left our school and gone on to the middle school never fail to come back and let us know how much they miss our lunch. Pretty much the same stuff every day, and MUCH less homemade offerings. Just be aware of what your child is being served, and then judge that individual school’s program.
    Dawn

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