Cafeteria Food

As I've mentioned in the past, I eat lunch at a school cafeteria once a week, with my son. I've done this for years, and I ate with my daughter for years before that. Conventional wisdom holds that most school cafeterias in the US don't serve our kids very well, but that there are a few that are models of freshness, nutrition and edibility (watch Supersize Me). Michelle Obama brought attention to the subject this week with a visit to a Virginia school. Naturally there are parents who want those amazing prototypes here in LCPS and aren't finding it, and on occasion they ask me to do something about that.

Something struck me about this last week. When I'm having lunch and looking around the table I can see that parents as a whole in this community are not up in arms about nutritional value. My casual observation is that the parents who pack lunches for their elementary students by and large aren't packing more fresh fruits and vegetables, less processed foods or lower-fat options than the cafeteria offers. They certainly don't have less sugar.

Big changes happen when the community demands it. I would love to see the parents in this community come together and insist on nutritional improvement for all kids, but I don't expect that will happen until after I see them insist on improvements for their own.

Learning A Healthy Life
VA Dept of Education Nutrition Page
Governor's Scorecard for Nutrition and Physical Activity