What could be lurking in that burrito?
Here’s something I’d never seen before in my daughter’s elementary school cafeteria: A burrito made out of a giant flour tortilla, “turkey ham” and processed cheese slices. Apparently there wasn’t enough starch in the burrito, so one of the sides is pasta noodles. The green stuff is Exhibit A explaining why kids in D.C. schools don’t eat the vegetables: they are always cooked to death.
Contents revealed: "turkey ham"
This is what the burrito looks like when it is unfolded. Now, this took some imagination. The “turkey ham” from Jenny-O Turkey Store Sales in Willmar, MN, consists of “cured turkey thigh meat chunked and formed.” The label lists ingredients as “turkey thigh meat, consists of 2% less lite salt (potassium chloride, sodium chloride), sugar, salt, sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate, natural smoke flavoring, sodium nitrite.”
In other words, it’s highly processed and doused with chemicals to make turkey meat look like ham.
A burrito reloaded and ready for action
The girl sitting at one table didn’t want her burrito so she unwrapped it, removed the meat and cheese and handed it to the boy sitting next to her. He then unwrapped his own burrito and stuffed the added ingredients inside, creating this truly gigantic burrito.
It can be eaten single-handed
Kids are devilishly clever around food–especially when that means finding ways to get more. As big as this newly stuffed burrito was, the boy had no trouble eating it with one hand. He finished the whole thing.
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 have to admit, I was always showed some hesitation about eating some similar things when I was in school.