Posted on 09/13/2010 7:48:31 AM PDT by MissTed
The Boulder Valley School District's ambitious plans for a restructured school lunch program, with an emphasis on healthy food cooked from scratch, are moving forward.
But criticism of bland food that's not kid-friendly is still prevalent, leaving questions about whether enough families will choose the hot-lunch option to keep the program self-sufficient. The district sent an e-mail plea earlier this month, encouraging families to show their support for the changes by having their students buy school lunches.
The Boulder Valley school board has supported the changes, with members saying they expect it to take time for some kids -- and their parents -- to come around to the healthier school lunch offerings.
"Things that taste good aren't necessarily good for us -- and things that are good for us don't necessarily taste good," said school board President Ken Roberge. "Tastes are, to some extent, learned. The trick is to make things that are good for us taste good, and then teach our kids to eat them. The result is happier, healthier kids."
Last school year, participation was up just 2 percent over the previous year -- while a 10 percent participation increase was needed to make up for a significant, and expected, drop in "a la carte" sales. The result: The program was $360,000 in the hole.
Participation in the new lunch program varied by community. In Boulder, Louisville and Superior, students were eating 80,000 more school lunches last year. But in Lafayette and Broomfield, students bought 55,000 fewer meals.
This year, district officials say, they need at least 30 more students in each school to buy lunches to sustain the program. They've launched a back-to-school marketing campaign, are fundraising and are sending more than 30 interns to schools to do food tastings with students.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycamera.com ...
Lunch that day was hot dogs in whole wheat buns with baked beans or a quesadilla with a scoop of plain, steamed brown rice. The most popular item from the salad bar was the fresh whole fruit -- peaches and plums. Others, including jicama and tabouli, looked virtually untouched. Salad items also included shredded chicken and beans.
Uhm... I think I see what the problem is.
Hot Dogs
Rice
Salad
Fresh Fruit
None of these items are available at Super Markets where parents can purchase and prepare them.
I always make my kids’ lunches. School food is crap.
LOL!
Yeah. Nothing kids love like Jicama or Tabouli! :)
What’s interesting is that if you polled these kids parents, chances are they’d all claim to be in favor of this.
Talk is cheap.
Now lets see the kids actually eat it.
That’s where the parents will give in in 2 seconds.
So how long before they make eating their ‘Healthy’ lunches manditory. Or maybe if they will make it so if the kids don’t eat the ‘Healthy’ lunches their parents lose the Health Insurance. Just a couple of ways that they can/will ‘fix’ the problem.
Applewood smoked ham sandwich with provolone cheese and stone ground mustard on double fiber bread.
Fresh banana
Low fat pretzels
Sharp cheddar cheese.
Blueberry yogurt cup
Approximate cost to Clan Lurker: $3 or so.
Reminds me of the Hells Kitchen episode where Chef Ramsey has them make vegetarian meals and then when they are done tells them that these vegetarians don’t like vegetables and all the kids come running in.
School bureaucrats have no business setting a menu. That would be like having a chef set the education agenda. I bet if they hired a real chef to set their menu they would be in a much better position. The chef would not be a full time employee, just someone who made the recipes and taught them how to use the menu. But like most things government they do the job half assed.
What problem? They’re basically feeding prison food to prisoners.
As far as fresh fruit, when Martha Stewart was in the slammer, she was given her choice of what they called a “hog apple” or an orange each day.
Steamed brown rice — yummy.
With public healthcare, who cares what their kids eat?
“things that are good for us don’t necessarily taste good”
Well ain’t that funny?
Usually, in NATURE, which you healthNAZIs generally also worship, if it tastes bad it’s not good for you. There’s a reason for things tasting good/bad.
Wow, even hot dogs and baked beans tasted bad?
Well, there ARE bad dogs and beans, but still....
I’m shocked such things were even included on the menu.
Please check out what Jamie Oliver, the young British chef
did with Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, starting in Huntington, W. Va. If you saw any parts of his multi-part show 3-4 months back, you know that it CAN be done.
I see no mention of this just-now Emmy-winning production on this link: too bad.
As reported, what’s going on in these Colorado schools may have been inspired directly or indirectly, or not at all, by Jamie’s show.
I have no way of knowing.
There is also NO mention of whatever direct or indirect
connection it might have to the absurd top-down 600 Million
dollar anti-obesity campaign issuing from Michelle Obama as her First Lady Pet Project. THAT is what is of interest to me about this: the fact that Jamie went down there, against all adversity, in a fairly hostile environment, and won everyone over, quite literally. And the fact that he had to SCROUNGE for a measly EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS to try to ‘roll out’ his program beyond the few test schools he started with. It was quite a show. And it serves as a REAL contrast with ANY attempt by Big Government to institute and implement a comparable program. Michelle’s program is proving a prime example of the folly of these vanity programs and how utterly wasteful they are and will ultimately be, as they tear through six hundred million dollars of taxpayer money.
Only a slight additional shift in focus would further open up the possibilities of various types of American cuisine -- for example, PA Dutch cooking -- rarely found outside the region, as well. (Consider for yourself sometime Philadelphia Pepper Hash, basically cole slaw with a vinegar/sugar dressing instead of mayonnaise.)
“Yeah. Nothing kids love like Jicama or Tabouli! :)”
Unless it be “a scoop of plain, steamed brown rice”. Yummy, yum, yum!
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