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Catsup is not a vegtable
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By JEAN RODGERS
May 20, 2010
There’s a great deal of attention being showered upon school children lunch
programs, including funding and menus. As a member of the simplistic “brown bag”
generation, I have somewhat of a problem grasping the complex ramifications this
issue has developed.
Currently, the Federal government provides less than $3.00 per student for “lunch
money” to about a million Illinois children participating in the National School Lunch
Program. However, a closer look at the disbursement of this meager allotment
reveals that only $1.00 actually goes for food, the rest of it is “eaten up” by the cost of
labor, facilities and management.
A sample of the “food” provided often finds student lunch trays filled with pizza, nachos
and French fries which the kids gulp down like so many starving puppies indulging
taste buds with little concern about nutritional value.
Some defend the menu arguing that this snack food is the only affordable choice
appealing to students considering the meager federal food allotment. (Is this why
catsup is considered a veggie in order to meet federal requirements?) I say how
about getting some feedback from mothers with expert experience at balancing a
family food budget and still managing to come up with tasty, nourishing selections
such as pasta, chili, tacos, tamales, rice or ravioli; and casseroles of every content
and color.
Sides of fresh fruit like bananas, berries, apples or peaches and pears make for a
sweet ending – provided they are purchased in bulk, at special sale prices. So it
seems one solution to developing a workable federally funded student lunch program
would be to increase the existing funding – or decrease some of the costs related to
sustaining its operation.
Better yet, how about we swing back the clock to the days I recall when each kid filled
their own brown lunch bag with sandwiches, fruit and a cookie or two. Then concerns
about providing a daily balanced meal would become the dinner prepared and served
by parents in the home based on a “dietician’s delight” consisting of
say……something like pasta, chili, tacos, tamales, rice or ravioli.
May 20, 2010
There’s a great deal of attention being showered upon school children lunch
programs, including funding and menus. As a member of the simplistic “brown bag”
generation, I have somewhat of a problem grasping the complex ramifications this
issue has developed.
Currently, the Federal government provides less than $3.00 per student for “lunch
money” to about a million Illinois children participating in the National School Lunch
Program. However, a closer look at the disbursement of this meager allotment
reveals that only $1.00 actually goes for food, the rest of it is “eaten up” by the cost of
labor, facilities and management.
A sample of the “food” provided often finds student lunch trays filled with pizza, nachos
and French fries which the kids gulp down like so many starving puppies indulging
taste buds with little concern about nutritional value.
Some defend the menu arguing that this snack food is the only affordable choice
appealing to students considering the meager federal food allotment. (Is this why
catsup is considered a veggie in order to meet federal requirements?) I say how
about getting some feedback from mothers with expert experience at balancing a
family food budget and still managing to come up with tasty, nourishing selections
such as pasta, chili, tacos, tamales, rice or ravioli; and casseroles of every content
and color.
Sides of fresh fruit like bananas, berries, apples or peaches and pears make for a
sweet ending – provided they are purchased in bulk, at special sale prices. So it
seems one solution to developing a workable federally funded student lunch program
would be to increase the existing funding – or decrease some of the costs related to
sustaining its operation.
Better yet, how about we swing back the clock to the days I recall when each kid filled
their own brown lunch bag with sandwiches, fruit and a cookie or two. Then concerns
about providing a daily balanced meal would become the dinner prepared and served
by parents in the home based on a “dietician’s delight” consisting of
say……something like pasta, chili, tacos, tamales, rice or ravioli.
