Do your kids eat school lunch? Do you pack their lunches? Feel free to share your thoughts with me about what you do and why. Here is an article I wrote on the topic for our local paper, The Laguna Beach Independent.
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published September 10, 2010
Laguna Beach Independent
This elaborate change did not happen overnight. Cooper honed in on five challenges that schools face in making change: 1) food, 2) finance, 3) facilities, 4) human resources and 5) marketing. In other words, schools have to find food they want to serve, pay for it, prepare and cook it, and then convince kids to eat it. Cooper recently launched an excellent online resource called “The Lunch Box” (www.thelunchbox.org), which offers scalable recipes, curricula, technical tools and community discussion to help launch school food reform across America.
School lunch is a topic during my consultations because clients submit their child’s food records to me. I am appalled when I review the school lunch menus.
We are sending mixed messages, since the food and nutrition discussions teachers have in the classroom do not mirror what is offered in the cafeteria. Revamping American school lunch requires innovative and collaborative efforts between communities and schools, but it can be done. If you are concerned about school lunch, gather your thoughts, gather your friends, click on “The Lunch Box,” and work in cooperation with schools to make the change you want to see for your children.
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Melanie R. Silverman is a pediatric dietitian in Laguna Beach.