The story of Colorado middle school teacher Mendy Heaps and her crusade for better school food at risk of her job has reverberated around the internet. Some readers have called her a modern folk hero (a Facebook group–Support MENDY HEAPS, and teacher like her! has 358 members), while others say she recklessly pursues an unsavory agenda. After [...]
Entries Tagged as 'school lunches'
Mendy Heaps Answers Her Critics
April 12th, 2010 · 8 Comments · Wellness, kids, school food
Tags: Mendy Heaps·obesity·school lunches
Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen
January 19th, 2010 · 8 Comments · Tales, kids
I recently spent a week in the kitchen at H.D. Cooke Elementary School here in the District of Columbia observing how food is prepared. This is the first in a six-part series of posts about what I saw.
The lunch menu said chicken patty on a bun, but there was a problem: ingredients for the week had [...]
Tags: District of Columbai·processed foods·school food·school lunches·Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen
Would “Healthy Schools” Mean More Local Food?
December 12th, 2009 · No Comments · Sustainability, kids
Under legislation introduced this week in the D.C. Council, the District of Columbia would become one of the few jurisdictions in the country to place a bounty on school meals that rely on locally grown foods. The bill mandates an extra five cents for school lunch meals containing fruits and vegetables that are locally grown and minimally processed, [...]
Tags: District of Columbia·farm to school·local farming·local foods·school lunches
Does “Healthy Schools” Go Far Enough?
December 11th, 2009 · No Comments · Wellness, kids
Sweeping new legislation aimed at the wellness of District youth has plenty to offer advocates of local food but it still leaves lots to chew on for those who would remove all junk food from the city’s schools.
The legislation, introduced this week by Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D), [...]
Tags: child nutrition·District of Columbia·junk food·school lunches
New D.C. Law Would Embrace Healthy, Sustainable School Food
December 10th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Sustainability, Wellness, kids
Sustainably grown local produce. School gardens. Stricter nutrition standards. Free breakfast. Elimination of sodas, many junk foods and trans-fats. Mandatory physical education. Composting. All these are part of legislation introduced today by D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray(D).
I haven’t had a chance to digest everything in this 24-page bill, but [...]
D.C. School Food Goes Back To The Future
October 27th, 2009 · No Comments · kids
Here’s a news flash: The District of Columbia public school system is in the process of ditching pre-made, heat-and-serve meals and converting to fresh-cooked lunches. In some school, the meals will actually be cooked in on-site kitchens.
This move seems to have flown under the radar. But the intel we have as of today is that 74 [...]
Tags: school lunches·USDA
Fighting Mad About School Food
October 12th, 2009 · No Comments · food news
Here’s a gem of a film that’s flown largely under the radar but should be seen by anyone who’s the least concerned about the food being served in schools.
Independent filmmaker Amy Kalafa and dentist-turned-nutritionist Susan Rubin were both fed up with the junk food their children were being exposed to in school and spent a [...]
School Garden Week In D.C.
October 6th, 2009 · No Comments · kids
Students at the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School were so swept away with the idea of growing their own food that they decided to film a documentary about how kids can change the way they eat. What may have been most telling about a screening of the film last night was the way the [...]
Tags: school gardens·school lunches
School Food Solutions: Sugar-Free or Half-Baked?
October 5th, 2009 · No Comments · Wellness, food news, kids
With ever increasing buzz around the idea of feeding kids real food at school, some local jurisdictions are actually taking steps in the right direction. Here in the District of Columbia, the food providor for public schools, Chartwells, a division of the international conglomerate Compass Group, plans to introduce fresh-made meals to replace the re-warmed [...]
Connecting Schools With Local Farms
September 26th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Sustainability, kids
This week was the big rollout of our local farm to school network here in the District of Columbia, but for me it was more like a tale of two cities.
My job was to give food demonstrations to the kids in two elementary schools, one a predominantly white school in an affluent area of the [...]
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.
