We emptied our office this week for a school lunch experiment..

We all arrived at a K-4 school to do a food waste study...

I jumped in and sat with the kids to explain the plan...They are all so smart..

We were sorting food waste from trash...We then weighed the food waste of meals bought by the kids from the caf...Home brought meals (I could count them on one hand) were not included.

Sadly, our city does not cook for the kids...it is outsourced and microwaved..I saw three employees in the kitchen who served 389 kids.

And it was pizza day...with broccoli and an apple sealed in a plastic bags..the kindergartners cannot open the bags without help.

I chatted with the kids but what struck me more the the food issue was nurturing...the lunch monitors were strict..

One pale girl talked with me a bit..but didn't touch a thing on her plate...Until I said.."take a bite"...she then began eating...it was the same for others...

They have 20 minutes..to eat their lunch...

The principal had a talk with us afterward..She is horrified...She has set up a "Sharing table" those apples or broccoli not eaten are put there for kids to take home to their families...Anything leftover is offered to the homeless who congregate at the end of the street. (some kids had talked to me about their distress about folks who had no food).

What a eye opener...I had suggested that the school 'green team' present to the school committee..

But more important to me for kids nutrition was a kind environment..Food is love...except in the caf at school...

Thinking of Muffin thru all this..

We collected 129lbs of food (including milk) uneaten by 389 kids. A third of the food was thrown out...

The 4th graders ate nearly everything, but I found the younger kids seemed to need more encouragement but there are few staff to help them..

Wow. I’m speechless.

There has to be a better way.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Wow. I’m speechless.

There has to be a better way.

Me,too...but now more connected to the work my new employer does..

Still, I cannot stop thinking that is is less about the food and more about the hugs..(I got several from the kids.)

In an discussion about composting (all the food waste is going to a local composter) We talked about the tomatoes that made the sauce for the pizza...One boy got the connection.."Tomatoes can grow more tomatoes!!"

A few thoughts:

Do you think your presence there for your study changed the “normal” cafeteria behavior of the kids? Were they so interested in your project that they didn’t eat as well as they usually would? Distraction?

What is volunteerism like in your school and community?

Ideas that don’t involve staff taking on more duties that they may not have time for:

Would it be possible to have a “lunch buddy” program? I have a friend who used to do be a lunch buddy for an at risk kid. That was a one-on-one program.

The other friend that I’m thinking of is an older woman who would go in to the local school at lunch time, help hand things out (hostess?) and be a kind and loving presence. The kids adored her. She did this until she had to give up driving, and moved to an independent living community.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Wow. I’m speechless.

There has to be a better way.

This.

I was a school lunch consumer (as opposed to a take from home lunch consumer) as a kid. I don't remember any lunches being great, but I definitely remember some being awful. In particular, every Friday they would serve up something called "Johnny Marzetti." As an adult, I learned that this was a real name of a real dish. (It's basically pasta and red sauce.) BUT they would also toss in what was obviously the leftovers from that week: corn, chopped up pieces of hot dogs, you name it. In retrospect, the meals were boring but reasonably healthy. However, there was nothing fresh that I can recall, and most definitely when the girls hit junior high many simply didn't eat because there was no low-cal alternative. Plus it had the added benefit of allowing you to get your lunch and give it to your boyfriend.

Every school had a working kitchen and "lunch ladies." I don't remember it fondly, but I also don't have horrible memories. I think that lunches have changed dramatically, or perhaps my childhood was unique. Obviously we didn't have microwaves, and I wonder if the temptation of cooking something in a big central kitchen and shipping out to be nuked is just too easy.

I think what Muffin's Sister is doing with school lunches is awesome.

Nina, I was thinking of Muffin's Sister the whole time I was there.

Sadly,we are a large city school system where most of the kids are in economically challenged families. That makes is all the more distressing when you realize the kids get breakfast there as well, so that at least 2 of their meals every weekday are served at school.

I expect it was a financial decision to do it this way, the whole food service is outsourced.