A healthier lunch is not coming to a school near you. That is, if congress has anything to say about it.
Yes, my friends. We live in a world where pizza sauce is considered a vegetable. And yes, french fries are potatoes. Which is also considered a vegetable.
Public school lunch has been under fire recently for contributing to childhood obesity. With famous chefs like Jamie Olliver and the Obama administration behind a school lunch overhaul. But congress just wouldn’t bite.
In some what is called a throwback to the Reagan administration (you know, when they tried to save money by considering ketchup as a veggie), or is history just repeating itself?
Famous British chef Jamie Olliver is unhappy about school lunches. So unhappy that he created and hosted a reality show about the horror of school lunches and teaching young children how to eat healthy. In his show he invited a few famous chefs and cooks at the best restaurants in L.A. out for lunch. Instead of serving his usual delectable fare, he served school lunch. The cooks were disgusted. Not only did the school lunches look disgusting, but they lamented about how they would never dream of serving a meal like that to their own children.
So would you eat school lunch?
Here is what we know on both sides of the coin:
– Childhood obesity is increasing. Skyrocketing in some cases. Cute baby leg rolls are adorable. But a third grader who cannot play out at recess because he is winded is a problem. (If your child is overweight and it affecting his or her health, grab your Cobra health insurance card and visit your doctor.)
– Cutting out french fries and frozen pizzas out of school lunch hurts the farmers. Yes, farmers have a strong interest in keeping their produce and goods inside school lunch. Think of public schools as the biggest client and market for farmers. Who is a bigger client than millions of hungry little mouths? These said farmers were the exact ones that lobbied Congress to not change the school lunch policy.
– Children are not getting the nutrients they need. And it shows by the choices they make and the lifestyles and habits they create. And school lunch is often a choice. But what child is going to pick a salad over a piece of pizza?
– Some advocates are afraid if the stuff children like is taken away, they will make worse choices. If sugary flavored milk is taken off the menu, will kids still drink milk?
Both sides of the argument bring up interesting questions.
Should school lunch be run by the government? Sure the schools are public schools run by our tax dollars. But some people feel like the government has stepped over the line into too much control by trying to tell our children how and what to eat.
What do you think? Who does the burden lean on- parents or the school lunch? Is government stepping over too far? And since when is school lunch a business transaction?