Schools need better funding to improve meals
Does President Obama’s proposed freeze on discretionary spending include federal meal programs for schools? Debra Eschmeyer, head of the National Farm-to-School Network, says now is not the time to shrink from improving the quality of school food, not when children are caught up in an obesity epidemic, not when the U.S. is spending $1 million per soldier in Afganistan.
Those subsidized school meal programs, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are renewed every five years. This just happens to be a renewal year, so Congress is now considering the current state of school meals and whether additional funding will be forthcoming.
In case you have any doubts about the need for better school food, you can read the six-part series of articles I wrote after spending a week in the kitchen of my daughter’s elementary school here in the District of Columbia. Read Eschmeyer’s passionate reasoning for increased federal support at the Huffington Post.
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
I realize the school lunch program is in itself a huge national program. And I think I now realize that it is a profit making business for companies like Chartwell (think that is the name you mentioned in your series?) and other institutional food companies like them. One thing that would deflate the profitability of the school lunch program is — ever hear of the “packed lunch” program. Why can’t schools advocate for this type of lunch program. Or why can’t parent groups advocate for this. And I am not talking about those processed “to go” supermarket lunches that I think are called lunchables. Good old tuna, egg salad, fresh fruit, or peanut butter (preferably organic) and like healthy foods. I would like to put the full blame on the businesses and/or the govt but some blame needs to be shared by the parents. If parents would demand a decent national lunch program and vow that they will pack lunches until they get one — just maybe they, the parents, can turn things around. — barbara P.S. I would like to see you do a series about what these parents are feeding their children. One example is the trend toward lunchables, another unhealthy alternative to the lunch program. I see baskets in grocery stores loaded with junk food and little real food — what do you think it will take to turn the home front around to eating healthy? A turn around at home would ultimately mean healthy food for children.