School Lunch Make-Over: Starting with who?

I spoke with someone in the local media this week about the “Communities Putting Prevention to Work” (CPPW) grant workshops: Discover. Cook. Nourish. that I am proud to be working on.  The reporter asked about the focus of the workshops and I explained that we were attempting to affect the beliefs of the individual school food service worker as a first step.  The workshop materials clearly outlines the need for changing how we eat and then offers ample lessons and resources on “how to”.  We cover popular food terminology, whole grain and bean cookery, how to balance meals, how to shop for the best quality and give hands –on cooking lessons using dozens of recipes.  By getting these individuals jazzed about better health via good food, they may develop a passion for feeding themselves and their family better.

The reporter, playing devil’s advocate, wondered how these workshops were going to help.  If grant money is awarded to teach school food service workers about serving better food, parents want to see better food on their child’s lunch tray.  PDQ!  Why waste precious grant money on changing the school food service worker’s dinner plate?

I stood my ground.  Because post workshop, if a food service manager wants to bring in more food from local vendors, the workers who took the workshops will be in the “heck yea” camp.  Sign up the their school for the farm-to-school program?  The answer is more likely to be YES and how can I help.  If serving more whole grains in the menu rotation becomes part of the “more fiber” rule from the government, these foods won’t be unfamiliar. In fact, the folks who have taken the workshop will know how to make a variety of whole grains taste fantastic.  Maybe they’ll be psyched enough to host an information session for the parents at their school?  Or a cooking class?

Starting with the individual is exactly where change begins.  Each parent, each child, each school food service worker has to desire similar changes if school lunch food is going to improve.  I threw the question back to her.  If we don’t shift the consciousness of the school food service worker, then who would you start with?  Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is emotionally charged, confrontational and nationally televised.  His sweeping school lunch makeover is one approach, lobbying for better school lunch policies in D.C. is another.  Two Angry Moms made a movie to raise consciousness and evoke change. I feel that the problem has to be confronted from every point of entry.  Dr. Susan Rubin of Better School Food has a “to do” list for parents and school food service directors to follow.  What’s your take on the issue.  Where does changing the way we feed children begin for you?

Cookus Interruptus

Tags: Better School Food, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, Dr. Susan Rubin, Jamie Oliver, school lunch, Two Angry Moms, workshops

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Feeding Kids, School Lunch. 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.