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There Is Joy in My Mouth Now: School Lunches that Nourish Body and Soul
By Ellen C. Bicheler
Issue 120 September/October 2003
Green and white fettuccine with tomato basil sauce?
It may not sound like standard school-lunch fare, but in Santa Fe, New Mexico, it is-thanks to Lynn Walters and her organization, Cooking with Kids, Santa Fe schoolchildren are eating healthier, uncommonly delicious hot lunches. Walters has managed to integrate 91 meals a year into the city's school-lunch program. Walters calls Cooking with Kids "a multicultural food education program that works to improve children's nutrition by involving public school students in hands-on learning about culturally diverse foods." Students concoct such dishes as East Asian Noodles with Coconut Rice Balls. They've been treated to tastings of grapes and salad greens, then encouraged to describe what they've tasted. Did they like the spicy salad greens, or do they prefer romaine? Walters and her nine-member staff work with teachers to satisfy academic requirements of geography, math, science, social studies, language arts, music, and art right alongside the cooking.
There's good reason. With the ever-growing corporate influences in our schools of such firms as McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, and the "pouring-right" contracts of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, we need more than ever to provide strong nutritious models for our children to follow. Our children are bombarded with television and radio advertisements, free book covers from food vendors, educational posters in the hallways with corporate advertisings of potato chips and soda, athletic billboards with their sponsor's name and logo, and Channel One: required television in the classroom, complete with two minutes of commercials each day.
With the Surgeon General's 2001 report on obesity, we should be wiser. The report details the 300,000 annual deaths from obesity {check with author} and its complications of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, asthma, skeletal problems, and psychological disorders. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals in its 2000 statistics that 15.3 percent of our children are considered overweight, a figure that has doubled for children since the 1980s, and tripled for adolescents. The CDC predicts that one in three US children born after 2000 are at risk for developing diabetes, and relates this to overeating and lack of exercise. According to a California report, "Why Kids Are Getting Heavier," our 1995 total annual cost associated with obesity was $99.2 billion.1
The May 2003 General Accounting Report (GAO) on the school lunch program concludes that "efforts are needed to improve nutrition and encourage healthy eating." Findings exposed that, although most schools met the nutritional requirements, more than 75 percent of them failed to reduce calories from fat to below 30 percent, and exceeded the limits for saturated fat. "Barriers to providing nutritious meals," said the report, "included budget pressures and competing time demands." The report emphasizes that teachers had very little time and no budgetary resources to teach nutrition because of "the focus on meeting state academic standards."2
Dr. Ben F. Feingold's research names food additives and dyes as possible sources of such behavioral problems as Attention Deficit Disorder. And Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics, believes "Getting commercialism out of schools is the first line of defense against the epidemic of childhood obesity. If the food is good, kids will gobble it up and tell their parents to keep junk food out of the house. They will ask for cooking classes. They will want to know where food comes from and how it is produced. I tell everyone who asks me that the first thing they should do is visit their local school to see what's going on with school food and do something about it to make it better."
At this writing, Congress is reviewing a more than $6 billion National School Lunch Program. They've already allowed irradiated meat into the school lunch program. The argument of the sanitization of the meat won out, despite critics' claims of possible links to cancer.
Senators Patrick Leahy and Dick Lugar are promoting a "Better Nutrition for School Children Act" (S.1007), which would further limit vendor sales of "foods of minimal nutritional value," although the bill takes into account schools dependent on the income from the sales.
Senator Leahy's Child Initiatives Act (S.995) advocates increasing milk, fruits, and vegetables in school menus by giving an extra two to ten cents per meal to schools that opt for the healthier choices. It also provides a grant program for "farm-to-cafeteria" projects, which allows schools to purchase local foods from farms of small to medium size.
Gaye MacDonald, food services manager of the American School Food Service Association and the Bellingham, Washington, School District, pleaded with Congress to waive the reduced lunch and breakfast fee for children with family incomes of up to 185 percent of the poverty line, and to increase the $2.14 reimbursement schools receive for lunches. She believes "having children make healthy choices for a lifetime" should be our top priority.
Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, slow food advocate, author and chef, is adamant about facing the problem's complexity: "There is no easy way to fix it. We need more fruit and vegetables, but the system is profoundly flawed. My idea is to think of the lunchroom as an extension of the classroom. There's a set of values that comes from growing food, cooking and serving it. We need a curriculum around the school-lunch program that teaches children to nourish themselves. They need to learn how to cook and take care of the land. Let's go back to our connection with nature, our true source of life."
Waters was integral in the creation of the Edible Schoolyard and kitchen at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. A bountiful one-acre garden now graces what used to be an abandoned asphalt lot. The garden is resplendent with California poppies, blossoming artichokes, and, at its center, a ramada built with kiwi vines intertwined with willow and recycled wood. There's a huge compost area at the back of the garden that "the kids play in like they're at the beach," declares coordinator Chelsea Chapman. "A lot of learning goes on with that pile." There's even a pizza oven alongside the garden, with a special shelf for putting together pizzas as a morning snack-using the garden's fresh Swiss chard, onions, and thyme. According to Waters, "The mission of the Edible Schoolyard is to create and sustain an organic garden and landscape that is wholly integrated into the school's curriculum and lunch program."
Beside the lavish gardens sits the lavender-colored kitchen complex. There, children make tortilla soup or black-bean enchiladas, then sit down to feast at tables covered with red-checked cloths, and vases bursting with tulips and daffodils from the garden. They sit in groups of eight to ten, with an adult at each table to talk over whatever is important to them-be it a local hip-hop artist, or what laws they'd like to change.
Sixth-grader Joseph Hill reports that his tastes have expanded through his time in the garden: "I eat raspberries, carrots, sour grass, lemons, and salad greens." Megan Collins, another sixth grader, refuses to buy processed lunches anymore. "I spend a lot more time thinking about what I eat," she says.
The Center for Ecoliteracy has worked with the Edible Schoolyard and many other schools through their Food Systems Project, a pilot program, run in conjunction with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), that links farms to schools. "Linking farms to schools is not merely about changing the foods in the schools, but also about connecting to a larger pattern that promotes regional sustainable agriculture and a curriculum that connects to this," Zenobia Barlow, executive director of the Center for Ecoliteracy, told the Fertile Crescent Conference. This group of 50 people meets quarterly and includes farmers, teachers, garden coordinators, food-service coordinators, nutritionists, chefs, and food policy representatives. They promote connections, ideas, and resources for incorporating healthy foods, sustainable agriculture, and the treasuring of the land into the daily lives of children.
Small beginnings are sprouting. The Valley Vista School of Petaluma, California, has a productive garden nestled between two sets of classroom wings. A cob bench built by students provides a workspace for plucking chrysanthemum petals for their weekly salad bar. Other students pick spinach, chard, and herbs. Garden Coordinator Vanessa Passarelli provided a roving cart loaded with trays for lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, carrots, beets, celery root, and fresh herbs, to spruce up the school's salads. The children even created their own salad dressing: "V-3," for Valley Vista Vinaigrette. Passarelli supplements the produce from the garden with lettuces from a local farmer, and a parent connected the school with a prison program that propagates plants for gardens and plant sales. Passarelli integrates the standard curriculum into her weekly sessions with the children, and Principal Maureen Vieth and a community of determined parents provide support and fundraising to sustain the project.
The result? More than half the students now eat salads each Monday. Passarelli reports that she actually has to increase her lettuce order each week to accommodate the demand. Principal Vieth notes, "What's so important about the salad bar is that it extends the link between land and produce. They learn that everything they do has an impact on them and the earth."
Ann Evans, of the California Department of Education, explained the Davis Joint Unified School District's Crunch Lunch program for elementary school students: With the purchase of a lunch, a child is entitled to the self-serve salad bar. There is always a choice of a vegetarian or a meat entrée. Each school has a garden, and children visit farms on field trips. The Davis Unified School District now purchases more than 50 percent of its produce locally and seasonally, and has a forager on contract who buys veggies and fruits directly from farmers and farmers' markets. There are plans for a central kitchen that may provide food for several school districts.
Matthew Jones is in only his second year of garden-tending at Bromwell Elementary School in Denver, Colorado. A leader of Slow Food in Denver, Jones stated that the group's last conference declared food education "their priority." Bromwell enjoyed a bountiful harvest last year-chiefly of arugula and mizuna lettuces and radishes, items not generally famous for their appeal to children.
Not this time. "The children were proud of what they created," says Jones. "We put salads together, made a special dressing, and ate together. There was joy from the concept that we had grown this food." He rejoiced to overhear an eight or nine year old yell, "Slow food rocks!"
Janet Brown, Food Program Officer for Food Systems of the Center for Ecoliteracy, suggests that food policy is the place to begin to make changes in school food. This process, she says, "brings together the whole community about how to feed the children. Leave room in the beginning for complaining: for languaging about what it is people want for their kids."
Karen Candito, Director of Food Services for the Berkeley Unified School District, stands firmly by the Berkeley Food Policy: "To improve the health of the entire community by teaching students and families ways to establish and maintain life-long healthy eating habits. The mission will be accomplished through nutrition education, garden experiences, and the food served in schools."
Candito buys locally wherever possible, using local farms. Her guidelines for shopping are the "three A's": accountability, meaning meal requirements, literal safety, and logistical issues; acceptability, in taste tests by students and in marketing; and, finally, affordability. Candito promotes a "fruit and vegetable of the month" to students: this month, it's strawberries and avocados.
Nancy May, Food Service Supervisor of Healdsburg Unified School District in Healdsburg, California, buys breads from a downtown baker and fresh produce from neighborhood farms and farmers' markets, scouring the area for every possible alternative to pre-packaged meals. The biggest challenge she reports is the extra work entailed in using fresh foods-those extra employee costs are not covered. She's applied herself to this challenge with passion, procuring grants and securing optimum deals with enthusiastic farmers. Her staff was at first reluctant to change from handing out pre-packaged food to actual preparation, but they've caught on. "They're smiling now," she reports. "They're even getting creative with the recipes. There is a sense of pride that wasn't there before."
May has replaced items in the school's contracted vending machines with healthier choices-juices and waters instead of colas. She consults with the schoolchildren, involving them in choosing healthier replacements. "I'm weaning them gradually," she says. "We're replacing candy bars with Wheat Thins and Goldfish."
The Community Food Security Coalition has developed a national farm-to-school program, funded by the USDA, that uses farm products for lunch programs. In one such program-the Farmers' Market Salad Bar in Santa Monica, California-the produce served in the daily salad bar is purchased twice weekly at a local farmers' market. The state of North Carolina gives grants to schools to purchase farm produce. The Community Food Security Coalition maintains a website filled with funding sources and related assistance for schools (see "For More Information").
Marion Kolb believes such coalitions are good for both farmers and schools: "A major factor that influences how they operate is the local agriculture found in the region. Areas with warmer climates may organize a complete salad bar, while those with colder climates might provide some of the ingredients for school meals and snacks."
Portia Belloc Lowndes of Slow Food Chicago brings children to Chicago's Green City Sprouts Farmers' Market in an effort to explode the mystery of where food comes from. She recently treated a group of inner-city children to a chef's salad made entirely of local produce: blue cheese, lettuce, walnuts, and apples. "They loved it," she exulted.
Lowndes next intends to build an inner-city portable garden, for use by all of Chicago. She means to provide startup resources and advice to schools, so they can replicate gardens at their sites. She is especially proud of her fundraisers. At her annual Feast of the Senses, 24 chefs prepare foods at different galleries for tastings. Her harvest festivals attract legions of local farmers.
Kim Ryder of McNear School, in Petaluma, California, initiated a healthy snack program for her voracious fifth-grade class. "It's to counter the lack of breakfasts, and sugary cereals," she says. Two children help a parent volunteer prepare fruits, vegetables, and bread items each day. Parents report children requesting kiwis or carrots with ranch dip. Kim has noticed an improvement in attention span after snack time.
Although many schools have come up with innovative approaches for promoting healthy foods, "the biggest challenges," says Renata Brillinger, Food Systems Program Director for Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, "are cost and convenience. It's hard to compete with [large food distributors such as] Cisco."
In short, the system needs fixing, and Alice Waters, as usual, is blunt about it. "Because certain foods are subsidized, getting up to a norm is going to cost more-maybe twice as much. Most schools can't begin to do that. We must begin to lobby in Congress to bring more money into our schools." Part of the problem is the powerful and steady lobbying of decision-makers by the meat and dairy industries. An encouraging note: Every program mentioned above is expanding. There have been mistakes and setbacks-Berkeley High School lost their salad bar, and deer ate all but two of Valley Vista's lettuces last year-but these programs are moving forward because of the evidence of positive results. Children are initiating recycling programs, making sure the food scraps get into the compost, and helping to design a lettuce-washing table. Perhaps the most heartening evidence is seeing a child bite into a cherry tomato that the child grew him- or herself-the grin on the face, the fingernails dirty from working the soil, the questions that arise from the learning experiences of gardening and cooking. According to Anne Evans, a UC Davis study showed that "when children receive garden and nutritional information, and when there are choices of foods available, they will make healthier choices."
Do we really want a "fast food nation educating our children?" demands Alice Waters. "Get rid of the vending machines. Find another source for that money. We need to show Congress that this is not in the best interest of our children or our culture. We need to change our school-lunch program just as we changed physical education, so that every child can participate."
NOTES
1. "The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity" U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, DC. (2001): 1, 8- 9.
2. United States General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional Requesters, "School Lunch Program: Efforts Needed to Improve Nutrition and Encourage Healthy Eating" Pages 2, 7-8, www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?Gao-03-506
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Book
Nestle, Marion. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. University of California Press, 2002. www.foodpolitics.com.
Organizations
Center for Ecoliteracy
2522 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94702
510-845-4595
www.ecoliteracy.org.
Community Food Security Coalition
PO Box 209
Venice, CA 90294
310-822-5410
www.foodsecurity.org.
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
15290 Coleman Valley Road
Occidental, CA 95465
707-874-1557
www.oaec.org
Organic Consumers Association
6101 Cliff Estate Road
Little Marais, MN 55614
218-226-4164
www.organicconsumers.org.
Slow Food USA
434 Broadway, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10013
www.slowfoodusa.org
www.slowfood.com
Programs and Initiatives
Cooking with Kids, a program of Santa Fe Partners in Education
3508 Camino Jalisco
Santa Fe, NM 87507
505-473-4703
walters@osogrande.com.
Publishes Cooking with Kids/Cocinando con Niños bilingual cookbook, Cooking with Kids video, Cooking with Kids Integrated Curriculum Guides (K-1, 2-3, 4-6), all by Lynn Walters and Jane Stacey.
The Edible Schoolyard at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School
1781 Rose Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
510-558-1335
www.edibleschoolyard.org.
Organic Lunchbox
Dr. Alan R. Greene
www.DrGreene.com
Stonyfield Farms
Menu for Change: Getting Healthy Foods into Schools
Parent Action Kit
www.stonyfield.com/menuforchange.
Websites
www.nojunkfood.org.
www.preventioninstitute.org.
Ellen C. Bicheler is a freelance writer. She lives in Petaluma, California, with her husband, Michael, and their children, Melissa (22), Lindsay (16), and Dylan (11).
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