Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Duppie on October 24, 2010 at 7:20am

I think one of the problems in our dietary habits is that kids (and a lot of adults) have no idea where their food comes from. Growing (at least a small part of) your own food can make you realize that growing food is hard work, that food is not grown in manufacturing facilities, or worse yet, magically appears in your grocery store.

The other problem here is that Mr. Bloomer (spokesman for the supplier) perpetuates the myth that commercially grown food is safer. He conveniently ignores the recent recalls of salmonella infected eggs, and tainted organic spinach. He also ignores the fact that government agencies have very limited tools to enforce compliance from the large producers

I can see some validity in the legal argument that they (CPS) might be held responsible for any health issues caused by the home grown food, but that could easily be circumvented by only serving cooked foods from the local garden, thereby killing any pathogens.

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Permalink Reply by Laura on October 24, 2010 at 8:15am

I have been visiting CPS school and lunchrooms as part of my current job. It is wonderful that they are teaching gardening and a chance for them to learn where their food come from and a little bit of nutrition. However I think Duppie is right about the reasons why it is not being served. I plan on bringing this question up in my next meeting to get more information. HOWEVER. CPS has completely changed thier menu this year. It is rather healthy, I eat lunch there everyday, and eat more fruits, vegetables, milk and whole grains then I would if I had a bag lunch of my own. Much of there food is now being made from scratch rather then processed food emptied from a bag. There is still alot to be done before the lunch system will be perfect and it will take alot of work, but I tell you, these lunch workers are working harder and longer to make healthier food.

Also children are required to have three components on their lunch tray, choosing from meat/meat alternative, grain, milk, fruit or vegetable. They therefore must have at least a fruit, vegetable or milk. most of the kids take all five parts. I am quite pleased by what I see on the childrens plates.
Again its not perfect, but its working towards it.

I recommend talking to the "Healthy Schools Campaign" to see what they are doing to help make these harvests make it to the lunch line. They are a wonderful organizations who has had a hand in the change of menu this year. They have a great fundraiser coming up in a few months called "Cooking up a Change" I recommend checking it out.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 24, 2010 at 9:48am

It's good to hear that they're working towards healthier menu options. If more people speak up and help to overcome the current barriers, perhaps kids could eventually be eating what they grow in school.

Duppie makes excellent points about the myth of commercially grown food being safer. And having gardening programs at schools helps to restore a connection between the reality of farming and what we eat.

Laura said:

I have been visiting CPS school and lunchrooms as part of my current job. It is wonderful that they are teaching gardening and a chance for them to learn where their food come from and a little bit of nutrition. However I think Duppie is right about the reasons why it is not being served. I plan on bringing this question up in my next meeting to get more information. HOWEVER. CPS has completely changed thier menu this year. It is rather healthy, I eat lunch there everyday, and eat more fruits, vegetables, milk and whole grains then I would if I had a bag lunch of my own. Much of there food is now being made from scratch rather then processed food emptied from a bag. There is still alot to be done before the lunch system will be perfect and it will take alot of work, but I tell you, these lunch workers are working harder and longer to make healthier food.

Also children are required to have three components on their lunch tray, choosing from meat/meat alternative, grain, milk, fruit or vegetable. They therefore must have at least a fruit, vegetable or milk. most of the kids take all five parts. I am quite pleased by what I see on the childrens plates.
Again its not perfect, but its working towards it.

I recommend talking to the "Healthy Schools Campaign" to see what they are doing to help make these harvests make it to the lunch line. They are a wonderful organizations who has had a hand in the change of menu this year. They have a great fundraiser coming up in a few months called "Cooking up a Change" I recommend checking it out.

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Permalink Reply by Chris B on October 25, 2010 at 4:06am

Have you seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? School administrators have tons of regulations to follow and are scared of breaking them, even the ridiculous ones. It seems to me most middle management doesn't feel empowered to actually make decisions. They just push paper around and the ones that are not too stupid are too scared to use their brains. The idea of using food out of the ground, that has to be washed and prepared in the schools, the horror! It doesn't come in plastic and they can't push the liability onto someone else. The very idea must scare the hell out of them.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 25, 2010 at 10:57am

I haven't seen it. If more parents push for the ridiculous regulations to be abolished, perhaps there could be some progress and maybe even better education.

Chris B said:

Have you seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? School administrators have tons of regulations to follow and are scared of breaking them, even the ridiculous ones. It seems to me most middle management doesn't feel empowered to actually make decisions. They just push paper around and the ones that are not too stupid are too scared to use their brains. The idea of using food out of the ground, that has to be washed and prepared in the schools, the horror! It doesn't come in plastic and they can't push the liability onto someone else. The very idea must scare the hell out of them.

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Permalink Reply by Laura on October 25, 2010 at 11:17am

This statement angers me. "They just push paper around"? the amount of work these people have to do is crazy. In Food Revolution, you can even see that the work load increased alot when they had to make food from scratch. They work harder than most individuals do at their job. Most of these managers are actually very smart ladies who would like to make changes, but don't have the power to do it. Most of the managers have spent over 10 years working their way up they system as Porters, Assistants and cooks before they become managers. They are not to scared to use their brains! many of them have made changes to help encourage the children to eat healthier.

farm to school (http://www.farmtoschool.org) is a work in progress and many schools use it, but again its a work in progress. I think that the changes made this year alone have shown that CPS wants to make children healthier. We have to continue to push and speak with government officials to make it legal to use these foods. But since they are obviously making changes we should support them.

Personally I think it would be better if the children were to take a cooking class to learn to cook these foods they grow, then for the food to be served at the school lunch. The children being able to take this home will give them more joy then just giving them to the cafeteria. Let them enjoy their hard work. So the more I think about it, I don't want these foods used in the cafeteria!

I also do not think that the garden would produce enough food to use for even one day of lunches. today I saw 300 bananas eaten, I know they are not growing bananas in these gardens, but its just to give an idea of the amount of food consumed.



Chris B said:

Have you seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? School administrators have tons of regulations to follow and are scared of breaking them, even the ridiculous ones. It seems to me most middle management doesn't feel empowered to actually make decisions. They just push paper around and the ones that are not too stupid are too scared to use their brains. The idea of using food out of the ground, that has to be washed and prepared in the schools, the horror! It doesn't come in plastic and they can't push the liability onto someone else. The very idea must scare the hell out of them.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on October 25, 2010 at 11:31am

Good point Laura. I'm always amazed at how many people become overwhelmed when faced with cooking a fresh vegitable. One fun idea would be for the cafeteria to learn what is in season in the garden. If they make a simple dish based on (not using what they grow) the kids are taking home, as well as a recipie card for the kids to make it themselves. It would help the kids understand how to make it themselves.

There are many food islands in the city where fresh produce is not regularly availble and when on a low budget can blow what little grocery money there is. A lot of food education could be focused on how to cook healthy with simple inexpensive foods.


>

Laura said:

This statement angers me. "They just push paper around"? the amount of work these people have to do is crazy. In Food Revolution, you can even see that the work load increased alot when they had to make food from scratch. They work harder than most individuals do at their job. Most of these managers are actually very smart ladies who would like to make changes, but don't have the power to do it. Most of the managers have spent over 10 years working their way up they system as Porters, Assistants and cooks before they become managers. They are not to scared to use their brains! many of them have made changes to help encourage the children to eat healthier.

farm to school (http://www.farmtoschool.org) is a work in progress and many schools use it, but again its a work in progress. I think that the changes made this year alone have shown that CPS wants to make children healthier. We have to continue to push and speak with government officials to make it legal to use these foods. But since they are obviously making changes we should support them.

Personally I think it would be better if the children were to take a cooking class to learn to cook these foods they grow, then for the food to be served at the school lunch. The children being able to take this home will give them more joy then just giving them to the cafeteria. Let them enjoy their hard work. So the more I think about it, I don't want these foods used in the cafeteria!

I also do not think that the garden would produce enough food to use for even one day of lunches. today I saw 300 bananas eaten, I know they are not growing bananas in these gardens, but its just to give an idea of the amount of food consumed.



Chris B said:

Have you seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? School administrators have tons of regulations to follow and are scared of breaking them, even the ridiculous ones. It seems to me most middle management doesn't feel empowered to actually make decisions. They just push paper around and the ones that are not too stupid are too scared to use their brains. The idea of using food out of the ground, that has to be washed and prepared in the schools, the horror! It doesn't come in plastic and they can't push the liability onto someone else. The very idea must scare the hell out of them.

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Permalink Reply by Laura on October 25, 2010 at 11:40am

hit the bullet on the head.. they are actually called food deserts.
a wonderful organization working with that is called CLOCC--Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children.
Anyone who has an intrest in this should join them for a meeting. It is a wonderful orgnization with many subgroups that work in very specific areas.
Operation Frontline- who actually just changed their name to Food Now! does cooking classes like this for both children and adults! They are 6 week courses, the class follows the food pyramid and then has the children or families cook food that they learned about that day! some classes actually do gardening too!
Also its important to know that all these cafeterias menus are created by Chartwells. yes CPS has a say in it, but Chartwells is the main company in charge



Liz said:

Good point Laura. I'm always amazed at how many people become overwhelmed when faced with cooking a fresh vegitable. One fun idea would be for the cafeteria to learn what is in season in the garden. If they make a simple dish based on (not using what they grow) the kids are taking home, as well as a recipie card for the kids to make it themselves. It would help the kids understand how to make it themselves.

There are many food islands in the city where fresh produce is not regularly availble and when on a low budget can blow what little grocery money there is. A lot of food education could be focused on how to cook healthy with simple inexpensive foods.


>

Laura said:

This statement angers me. "They just push paper around"? the amount of work these people have to do is crazy. In Food Revolution, you can even see that the work load increased alot when they had to make food from scratch. They work harder than most individuals do at their job. Most of these managers are actually very smart ladies who would like to make changes, but don't have the power to do it. Most of the managers have spent over 10 years working their way up they system as Porters, Assistants and cooks before they become managers. They are not to scared to use their brains! many of them have made changes to help encourage the children to eat healthier.

farm to school (http://www.farmtoschool.org) is a work in progress and many schools use it, but again its a work in progress. I think that the changes made this year alone have shown that CPS wants to make children healthier. We have to continue to push and speak with government officials to make it legal to use these foods. But since they are obviously making changes we should support them.

Personally I think it would be better if the children were to take a cooking class to learn to cook these foods they grow, then for the food to be served at the school lunch. The children being able to take this home will give them more joy then just giving them to the cafeteria. Let them enjoy their hard work. So the more I think about it, I don't want these foods used in the cafeteria!

I also do not think that the garden would produce enough food to use for even one day of lunches. today I saw 300 bananas eaten, I know they are not growing bananas in these gardens, but its just to give an idea of the amount of food consumed.



Chris B said:

Have you seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? School administrators have tons of regulations to follow and are scared of breaking them, even the ridiculous ones. It seems to me most middle management doesn't feel empowered to actually make decisions. They just push paper around and the ones that are not too stupid are too scared to use their brains. The idea of using food out of the ground, that has to be washed and prepared in the schools, the horror! It doesn't come in plastic and they can't push the liability onto someone else. The very idea must scare the hell out of them.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 25, 2010 at 2:42pm

Laura - Thanks for your perspective on this. It sounds like Food Now! is doing great things. I've heard very positive things about CLOCC as well. Organizations like these could help break the cycle of unhealthy living in food deserts.

Laura said:

hit the bullet on the head.. they are actually called food deserts.
a wonderful organization working with that is called CLOCC--Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children.
Anyone who has an intrest in this should join them for a meeting. It is a wonderful orgnization with many subgroups that work in very specific areas.
Operation Frontline- who actually just changed their name to Food Now! does cooking classes like this for both children and adults! They are 6 week courses, the class follows the food pyramid and then has the children or families cook food that they learned about that day! some classes actually do gardening too!
Also its important to know that all these cafeterias menus are created by Chartwells. yes CPS has a say in it, but Chartwells is the main company in charge

• ▶ Reply