Schools Serve Actual Food to Students!



Posted: Tuesday, October 10, 2006

by
Friends of Water

Many schools around the country are recognizing the large numbers of our school-age children who are overweight; they are making changes to improve the quality of the food they serve. Many schools are pulling out the junk food vending machines and soft drinks. Some are making efforts to prepare and serve healthier food for the kids. Some results have shown that it is important that the schools educate the students about the better food, and help them transition to a better diet. Some school systems have reported that too many just stopped going to lunch when a change was made. Like any change, it needs to be introduced appropriately.

The friendsofwater.com "Wave Award" goes to Alice Waters who founded the Chez Panizze Foundation, which has committed to raise $4 million to jumpstart a new School Lunch Initiative for Berkeley California's public schools. The idea is not just to feed the students better, it is to put the district's 10,000 students on a path of lifelong healthy eating habits. California has passed a law going into effect in 2007 that sets limits on the sugar and fat content in foods and what drinks can be sold in schools.

The Initiative is working to introduce fresh, locally grown food - preferably organic. And they'll actually cook it at the schools. Backers point out that spending more on nutritious lunches now means spending less on healthcare later. Some disagree that it really is any more expensive. Professor Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and public health at New York University says "You can bring in healthier food at the same price as junk food. Often cheaper."

The Martin Luther King Middle School has had a garden planted and harvested by students for 10 years now, the Christian Science Monitor reports. They also have a kitchen where the students exercise culinary skills as part of their curriculum. Writing, theater, science and math are integrated with the gardening and cooking - so the young people learn how to integrate it all into their lives. Most of the district's elementary and middle schools now have gardens, and more will add kitchens this year.

One of the most wonderful outcomes of programs like this is the conversation around the table when the kids sit to eat. Waters says students are thirsty for the sit-down meal experience. When students were asked what they did at school that they don't do at home, they said "Cook together and eat together."

We at friendsofwater.com are strong believers in systems thinking. ML King School is putting it into action by teaching through an integrated program. More are moving toward this approach. Preparing and eating healthy food is hugely important; and still only a part of the power of this program. One of the great things the students will learn by their own experience is that everything is connected. They should be able to apply this understanding in many ways.

What a great direction for our schools to be taking. We should be doing more of this at home too. What young person could you be gardening and cooking with? Are you taking the time to cook real food and talk over a meal with the important people in your life?

Tim Hickey is the Big Splash at www.friendsofwater.com, where his interests in story telling, water and the environment come together. Tim spends a lot of time in his organic vegetable garden, cooking, and writing stories for the Friends of Water ezine with the hope of getting more people to clean, save and celebrate water.
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