Comments on: Sorry, We Can’t Cook: D.C. Schools Say ‘No’ to More Vegetables

By: SchoolLunchLady

SchoolLunchLady — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 15:53:14 +0000

The “cookies, soda, chips, etc.” are a la carte items – the students pay for them in cash. The junk subsidizes the kitchen. Our kitchen has a net profit of $3000 a month. That extra money pays for the carrots, the hard boiled eggs, the freshly cut strawberries and the person to cut it. We offer six hot lunch and three cold lunch menu items. We serve 235 lunches a day with one full time cook, two part timers, and two cashiers. Around 180 students get reduced or free lunches. The students want juice or water and we want to serve it to them. We serve what falls off the truck and what the district administrator says we can serve. We don’t like it either. Our dishwasher is an unpaid developmentally disabled intern from the high school – can’t wash 235 cups. We barely have time to put it out and put it away. We want 1) another full time cook 2) a walk in refrigerator 3) higher quality meat and cheese 4) an administrator with culinary training 5) a school community that fights for great fresh food for the reduced/free lunch students while sending their kids to school with a packed lunch.

By: meldogsun

meldogsun — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:35:19 +0000

Thanks for the post. I’m a fellow grassfedonthehill consumer and until people aren’t afraid of a little real butter and sea salt, even I wouldn’t want to eat the vegetables. It not only HAS to taste good for kids to eat it, but it should! And what about phasing out some of the junk (strawberry milk, cookies, soda, chips, etc.) to pay for more of the good stuff? What about water? Do kids drink water anymore? How much would a filter system for the school cost to get drinkable water (not plastic bottles) in the cafeteria where the kids could fill up washable cups? That would be a huge step in the right direction.

By: Diane

Diane — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:41:16 +0000

School kitchens can be used for more than school lunches. This town is experimenting with a catering service and senior lunches prepared at the high school (completed 2001):

http://www.neindependent.com/articles/2010/03/18/region/doc4ba24ccfde733082227666.txt

This might be a good way to increase the revenue and support better food for the students.

By: TrevorCorson

TrevorCorson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:11:38 +0000

Japanese bento boxes!
http://bit.ly/djIxdW

By: espringf

espringf — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:52:26 +0000

I think carrot sticks would be a good place to start. Ok, 30% of raw veg ends up in the trash…but that’s better than 42%. Carrot sticks are widely loved, and let’s face it, if you add some ranch dressing, I bet only 10% of the carrots get pitched. Maybe we add other raw, finger-food veggies to the mix, too.

The second tier can be getting them to love well-prepared chard, but we might as well go for the low-hanging fruit, er, vegetable, first.

By: Aerangis

Aerangis — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:17:35 +0000

Ed, Why do they need to cook them? It seems to me that they could increase vegetable portions just by adding raw foods to the mix. Salads, fruit, carrots, tomatoes, snow peas, snap peas. I also wonder why cooked legumes, vegetable soups (low salt versions) are not used more frequently. I presume that this is a paradigm shift that is, frankly, difficult for the industry to grasp?! How about brown rice and oatmeal? Did you hear the NPR short on snacks from March 2, 2010? This is another dimension that drives me bonkers! Between school snacks, aftercare snacks, birthday parties, holiday celebrations uggggh! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124248337

By: Carl Rollins

Carl Rollins — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:03:21 +0000

PS.

The vending requirenments are still in there–they have been moved to a new section–but they do appear to be weakened.

By: Carl Rollins

Carl Rollins — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:51:47 +0000

I also noticed that the latest version of the marked-up bill has deleted the vending machine limitations on unhealthy drinks and snacks. What is the likelihood of a youngster eating from a salad bar for instance if he can walk across the room and get a soda and chips?

On the “super kitchen;” I think it may be a good idea if it’s placed in the part of town that needs jobs the most and needs the development of vital community food enterprises. I favor returning kitchens to schools.

Phelps vocational high school spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new greenhouse with a flawed design. I recommend fixing the old DCPS greenhouses before building new high tech ones with little planning. Will Allen and others have taught us that hoop houses can be built for a few thousand dollars each.

Millions of dollars of produce can be easily grown in DC virtually year-round in small hoophouse villages on vacant school land and DC-owned property. Students can learn the trade at schools, adults can get jobs doing this at non profit or for profit outfits.

Baltimore has a farm! Why aren’t these elements in this bill?