Fed Up With Lunch

[plumtreeblossom]

While on my lunch break (which I almost always take at my desk), I stumbled across a blog called
Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project, written (with daily photography) by a teacher in a Midwestern inner-city school who made a project out of eating the same lunches that her students were served every school day for a year.



Ugh. Poor kids. Her goal has been to bring this garbage food to light and promote improvement in school meal programs. It made me extra grateful for my comparatively luscious Sbarro spaghetti & meatball lunch. She recently got her book deal, as so many good bloggers do these days (dammit, that's what I wanted with my short-lived blog about anti-privacy upscale bathrooms. Guess I picked too narrow a bitching niche.) So although her blog is wrapping up, the content is still there and worth a look. Be warned, it could put you off your lunch!

Comments

[dabroots.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid, my family lived only a few blocks from our schools, so we always came home for lunch. Not so with my son, but because he's vegetarian and a very picky eater, we've always sent his lunch in with him. However, something I know is that most school cafeterias used to have kitchens were all foods were made on-site, not like what we see in those photos, and like most cafeterias now have, which is packaged food made by Aramark and other such gazillion-dollar corporations in massive facilities and then shipped to schools for microwaving--that's a pity.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Yep, I remember walking home for lunch every day from elementary school (unescorted by adults, OMFG!). In junior high and high school, the cafeteria food was made on-site, and you could opt for the salad bar instead if you wanted. In high school we could drink 10-cent cups of coffee all day long. Ah, those 80s.

This food in that blog, though -- it looks like prison food. Even coach class airplane food is much better. And the awful thing is that those microwaved school "meals" are probably the best food some of those kids have all day.

[dabroots.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, a lot of the food being fed hospital patients isn't much better, and often prepared by the same companies.

[minerva42]

This is facsinating, thanks!

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Yes, it really caught my interest.

Something else I noticed -- no compartmentalized, reusable trays like we used to have. These appear to just be paper or foam microwave containers that get thrown away. Lots of waste.

[http://users.livejournal.com/urban_faerie_/]

i saw that blog once!

the state of nutrition in schools, particularly urban schools is ridiculous. there are reasons why so many low income kids are diabetic and obese! they eat fast food because there are no supermarkets in urban "food deserts" and they get pumped full of garbage at school too... because it's cheap.

this is something that as a teacher really, really upsets me. we can't close the achievement gap if poor students are fueled by sub-nutritional food-like substances. This is just another way urban kids are disadvantaged.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

It's awful, I agree. And the lack of urban supermarkets has always astonished me. Um, inner cities are where TONS OF PEOPLE LIVE. They need food choices beyond the crap in convenience stores. Arrg.