As a kid, I was once kicked out of school for the day because I wore a shirt disparaging school lunch. Admittedly, the shirt was gross. I believe it had a bright orange slogan reading “School Lunch Sucks” above a cartoon of a bug-eyed, doubled over, puking kid. Even then I was a critic.
Whatever “food” happened to hit my tray over the years of plodding, downtrodden, through school lunch lines, at least it was consistent. I’m certain the bulk was prepared from frost-covered bags of industrial frozen meat, or enormous, generically labeled tin cans of limp vegetables. As I grew older and was able to leave campus, I began to hit convenience stores for microwave burritos and bags of potato chips. Later, I’d drive to McDonalds or Subway.
During my last year of high school, it had become unnecessary for me to leave campus for fast food, because it had come to me. The lunchroom was slowly being populated by small kiosks selling lunch sized portions of things like Pizza Hut pizza. I didn’t need the convenience store either considering there was a snack machine packed with chips and candy bars in the hallway. Not to mention the ubiquitous Coke machine.
Initially, I thought these things were a kindness visited on me by gracious school administrators. I came to realize as an adult that there’s serious money to be had in allowing a corporation to infiltrate the halls and cafeteria of your school.
As public school funding wanes, corporations have stepped in to fill the gap again and again. Of course, this isn’t altruism (as much as they’d love for you to believe that), it’s marketing. All kinds of companies have come to see schools as hothouses for potential customers and they’ve exploited cash starved schools in order to sneak in and promote brand recognition. It’s not just Coke machines in the halls (as diabetes linked to childhood obesity is set to be one of the biggest health crises this country has faced), it’s also corporate sponsored curricula. The companies create and distribute free branded learning materials to teachers; the teachers, grateful to have materials that will engage their students, use the materials and suggested curriculum to teach their subject.
The Center for Commercial-Free Public Education lists this starteling selection of corporate sponsored curriculum;
Nutrition curriculum by McDonald’s and potato chip companies
Teaching kids to count using Tootsie Rolls or Domino’s Pizza pepperoni wheels
Reading curriculum that teaches first graders to start out by recognizing logos from K-Mart, Pizza Hut, M&Ms, Jell-O, and Target
McDonald’s guides first graders through designing a McDonald’s restaurant, how a
McDonald’s works, and how to apply for a job at McDonald’s
.
Add to this school lunch contracts held by corporations like Hershey Foods and Morton’s, and the prevalence of obesity among children (more than three times the rate it was in the 1970’s when the Department of Agriculture loosened restrictions on fast foods in school lunches) becomes that much less mystifying.
Unfortunately, it’s not necessarily easy to reverse these trends. Fortunately, there are organizations that are working hard to turn things around.
Tomorrow night at 6pm, local non-profit Ecotrust is throwing an event at the Jupiter Hotel [800 E. Burnside] to benefit their Farm to School program, which seeks to connect schools with healthier, locally grown food, as well as increase healthy food consciousness by connecting teachers and students to local farms.
From their website:
We’re thinking outside the school lunchbox by helping districts in our region source locally grown, processed, and manufactured products for the lunch line. We also conduct research of on-going programs, systemically track the growing “farm to school” market, and advocate for policy changes that support better school food and increased food literacy.
Indulge at the Jupiter is an awesome showcase of the best of Southeast Portland food and drink. A $30 ticket grants attendees access to taste offerings from the likes of Beaker and Flask, Laurelhurst Market (reviewed in tomorrows Mercury), Le Pigeon, Biwa, Bunk Sandwiches, Meat Cheese Bread, House Spirits, Artisan Spirits, New Deal Distillery and a host of others.
This is one of the best and most affordable food events of the year. It’s also for an excellent cause.
Maybe we can raise a generation of kids more connected to the dirt their food is grown in than that fucking hamburger-peddling clown. If that means I’ll have to pony-up $30 and get loaded on local spirits, so be it.
Tickets are on sale here.
Great fundraiser for a great movement (farm to school). What needs to be realized is that students enter Kindergarten with their food preferences already in place due to their parents taking them out for that fast food from the time they are able to chew on a kids meal. They come to school expecting that fast food for lunch because they are “eating out” while at school. They are also already getting fat before they enter school. Look to educating parents to get them off the couch and outside to play like children used to. Quit buying them games for their computers. Cook them a meal at home and sit down as a family to eat it. The schools are not making the children fat, their entire lifestyles do that for them.
Thank you for your comment about the children’s lifestyles being set before they enter school. I preach that very thing to everyone who suggests we contribute to the children’s health epidemic. What we do at school is better for children than what happens at home.
As a School Food Service Director, I am constantly bombarded with complaints about our meals- too high in fat/ too much sugar, etc. We try to be inovative with meals while following strict guidelines and staying out of the “red” with our budget.
We are known in our state for constantly bringing in new items/ideas for our students as well as being proactive with impending new regulations. Our state has even stricter standards on what are served to students than many states.It may be easy to just do the minimum but we pride ourselves in our district for doing the very best of our abilities and resources.
Hey! i have a good idea, pack your kids lunch from home! I know, a novel idea. If you do this simple task, (takes about 10 minutes for my 2 children), YOU GET TO CONTROL WHAT THEY EAT! Seems simple, doesn’t it? Whole wheat breads? check. Organic sliced fruit? check. Filtered water in a reusable bottle? check. Perhaps some cheese for a snack, or carrots? check. Maybe even some leftovers from the fridge? THE ANSWER FOR MOST OF THE PROBLEMS IN SCHOOL, INCLUDING FOODS CONSUMED, STARTS AT HOME.
I love the story about you getting kicked out of school for your vomiting shirt.
I never got kicked out of school for anything and now I kind of regret it.
There’s a Mean Jeans song about being a School Lunch Victim.
The problem with suggesting that parents should just take care of this problem is that many children rely on school lunch because their families are subsisting on food stamps or are chronically food deprived.
High calorie food is often the cheapest food. Yes, these families should have an opportunity to learn about cheap healthy options, but many do not have time. So if you can afford it, the answer may be to pack your kids lunch for them. But if you’re worrying about how you’re going to put dinner on the table, more than likely you’ll leave your kids mid-day meal to the school cafeteria.
yeah, man purse!