School lunch programs.

[ShawnWatson]

I'm in a small town in central Nebraska. Sorry, on this forum that's as far as I'll go.

 

Protecting the integrity of the cafeterian code, good call.

[ZRod]

This was on the news again here in Lincoln, and once again they reiterated that the school does not have to comply, but they will lose federal funding if they don't.

[JJ Husker]

My son graduated HS last year. He ate in his HS cafeteria maybe ten times max in the four years he was there. Would go off campus almost everyday. I'm not sure what they were serving- he said it sucked. But, the main reason he did not eat there is they could not physically feed all 1200ish students in the time allotted. Not even close. He told me they would give priority to free/reduced lunch kids and there was no time to get others fed. Luckily his school was near an area with quite a few restaurants and they would give students a really good deal. He could eat lunch on five bucks a day. I think about 65% of his school was on free/reduced so out of 1200 they could only handle up to about 750 max in the time allowed. That doesn't seem quite right to me. I'm not even sure if all the fr kids had an opportunity.

 

My daughters middle school (another district with way less fr kids) has a really good fully loaded salad bar as a daily option. They also have a main line and an ala carte area that usually has some crap like taco bell and dominoes. This is in northern Colorado.

[zoogs]

I remember watching Jamie Oliver's food revolution series and being mind blown at how government mandates were preventing him from serving quality, healthful meals because they didn't include enough "veggie" portions - so the standard school lunch, which used french fries to satisfy that - were pushed out instead.

 

:bangheadonwall:

[ZRod]

Zoogies, I haven't watched that yet definitely will love BBC productions, but if they didn't mention it I think the potato growers associations are also a part of that. They have lobbyist who fight to keep the servings of potatoes up, even when everyone is arguing that it is a portion that needs to be reduced.

[tschu]

BigRedBuster,

 

I'm from a rural central Nebraska town as well.

 

After my freshman year of high school (this was like '04 or something) they totally changed our lunch program as well. Portion sizes smaller, the amount of options vastly reduced. Most of the best food was now gone. We were starving! Like most kids I was involved in sports year round, and throughout the course of high school I grew 8 inches and put on 75 pounds - and I'm still skinny as a rail. Kids this age need food! They didn't understand this...

 

They did provide bread, peanut butter, and jelly. So every day, most of the football team would get a double lunch (which they miraculously allowed us to do) and still have to eat 2, 3, even 4 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just to make it through the rest of the afternoon. So I totally understand your feelings...it's absolutely retarded. I understand that you're trying to cut down on obesity, but when you're a growing kid who lifts in the morning and goes to practice in the afternoon, you're going to need like 4500 calories per day, not 2500! Every kid has different dietary needs!

[knapplc]

I remember watching Jamie Oliver's food revolution series and being mind blown at how government mandates were preventing him from serving quality, healthful meals because they didn't include enough "veggie" portions - so the standard school lunch, which used french fries to satisfy that - were pushed out instead.

 

:bangheadonwall:

 

We watched Food Revolution, too. Here's why it was canceled:

 

A recent Harris poll found that although most Americans are aware of what it takes to eat better, they aren’t interested in doing it. If the Americans polled are anything like ABC viewers, the results are right on target. ABC has cancelled Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution series for low ratings.

 

This year’s premiere averaged 40% less viewers than last season.

LINK

 

Here's a blurb about that Harris poll:

 

Here’s a newsflash: U.S. adults have a high level of “health consciousness,” but that awareness doesn’t exactly translate into changing bad food choices, according to the Harris Poll which was conducted over the course of a week last month. Approximately 3000 adults aged 18 and over were polled and though most said they were aware of basic nutritional facts, they were unlikely to actually do something about it.

 

The poll concludes that “knowledge alone, while important, is not enough to change behavior,” but isn’t that the age old conundrum of human behavior in general? We know what is good for us but yet we find ourselves powerless to make the change. Harris, a leading international market research firm, said that 75% of Americans feel it is important to focus on fresh produce, fiber content, whole grains, fat content, protein size, calories and saturated fat when making food choices. However, only 33% chose gluten free items and a mere 20% said they were strictly “vegan.”

 

Interestingly, nearly half of Americans limit their sugar and salt intake, yet the rates of Diabetes Type 2 have never been higher in our history as a country. Only 34% limit sugar and 32% limit salt in their daily diets. The group leading the pack in making better food choices is the “mature” category of humans in the 65 and older category probably because they are reminded more often of their own mortality. Only half of the Baby Boomer generation (47 to 65 years old) is willing to change their diets and the Generation X’ers and Echo Boomers are only mildly interested.

LINK

 

 

So, the takeaway is, we know some foods are bad for us, but we eat them anyway because they taste good. No willpower.

[BigRedBuster]

 

So, the takeaway is, we know some foods are bad for us, but we eat them anyway because they taste good. No willpower.

 

Oh...I completely 100% agree with this.

 

However, that doesn't mean the school lunches have to suck and not have enough food.

I do some catering and preparing food for large groups. I have fed groups up to 400-500 people with literally just me and maybe one other person. I also have one heck of a lot less equipment and facilities than the school lunch room and they have a staff of people who come in in the morning to help start preparing the food.

 

There is absolutely NO REASON WHY FOOD HAS TO SUCK. Someone said in this thread that the reason it sucks is because of nutritional guidelines they have to abide by.

 

That very well may be true. BUT, it doesn't have to be that way. Either the government is putting restrictions on it or the people preparing it don't give a crap.

[knapplc]

There is absolutely NO REASON WHY FOOD HAS TO SUCK.

 

100% agree with this. I am becoming a good food apostle. I'm not pushing healthy food, necessarily (I do like my wine and beer), but fresh vegetables, fresh meats, fresh ingredients in general, prepared at home, is one of the best things life has to offer. Cooking is fun and, while not "easy," it's easier than most people think. And it tastes good, for goodness' sake. I wish more people had more time to cook, or in the absence of that, I wish our food purveyors were more responsible and provided better food choices than preprocessed ass crap that looks better on the bottom line but will eventually kill their customers.

 

I watch a lot of cooking shows, the travel kind where the host goes to other countries to eat, and by and large the rest of the world eats better, healthier, better looking food than we eat here. It's shameful to have the ability to produce quality food like we do in America, yet to consume bazillions of tons of chips every year.

[carlfense]

I watch a lot of cooking shows, the travel kind where the host goes to other countries to eat, and by and large the rest of the world eats better, healthier, better looking food than we eat here. It's shameful to have the ability to produce quality food like we do in America, yet to consume bazillions of tons of chips every year.

Hear, hear. I recently returned from Italy (about 10 pounds heavier than when I left) and good food is available EVERYWHERE. You can literally walk into a gas station and get an espresso and a sandwich better than most places in the states.

[knapplc]

I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain. We watched his very early work, A Cook's Tour, last night. He stopped at a roadside rest area in Japan and got food out of a vending machine that was better than anything you're going to find at most American mall food courts.

 

That's just embarrassing to see as an American. We should be way better than that.

[BigRedBuster]

I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain. We watched his very early work, A Cook's Tour, last night. He stopped at a roadside rest area in Japan and got food out of a vending machine that was better than anything you're going to find at most American mall food courts.

 

That's just embarrassing to see as an American. We should be way better than that.

 

I like Bourdain also. I would love to go on vacation with him or Andrew Zimmern.

 

The reason why so much food in America sucks is because of two things.

 

a) The public doesn't give a crap.

b) The public doesn't care.

 

I also like Diners Drive Inns and Dives. It shows locally owned places with people who really care about the quality of food they serve. Not necessarily the healthiest but at least it tastes good.

[knapplc]

It's not just the public. They play a huge role in this, and their dollar vote goes a long way to what we see on store shelves in America, but corporate profits also play a huge role. Americans are by and large devoid of the ability to think critically, so when the commercial tells them to buy Product X, they buy it. Big Food puts a lot of money into shoving high-profit, low-quality food on our airways, and we're too stupid to turn the channel. It's a symbiotic relationship of nonsense.

 

Better education would help, as would people simply taking personal responsibility for the food they eat.

 

The wife and I used to eat out all the time. Neither of us came into this marriage knowing how to cook. Her parents were terrible cooks and only made food to subsist on, nothing nice. My parents are good cooks, but I didn't show an interest in cooking at a young age and they didn't make me help in the kitchen, so it took us a long time to figure out how to cook good food, and cook it well. When we sorted out that I was (marginally) better at cooking than the wife, I spent years making some decent meals and some pretty awful meals. But we stuck with it and today I make her pretty high-quality food (as in, fresh ingredients, well made), and in general we eat better than most Americans.

[BigRedBuster]

My mother was/is an amazing cook but, like you, when I was young I didn't show any interest in cooking.

 

When I went off to college, I got really sick of Kraft Mac and Cheese. So, in my spare time I started trying to cook. Man, some of those early meals stunk.

 

But, this leads to another discussion we have had. When I was first married and we didn't have hardly any money to go out to eat, my wife and I started getting into cooking. We realized that we could cook good fresh meals at home and it was cheaper than buying the crap that is prepared and in a box that is high in fat and calories. Both of our mothers were gardeners also. So, when we bought a house, we started a garden and that only reinforced eating healthy and for less money.

Which goes back to the original topic. I honestly don't see why the government ran school lunch program needs to have really bad food. It makes no sense.

 

I'll give you an example. One of the meals that was fed to our kids this year was what was called a "taco burger". Really??? All it was was taco meat on a whole wheat hamburger bun. Nothing else.

 

Good friggen lord. Who in the hell wants that? Put the friggen taco meat in a taco shell and provide lettuce, tomatoes and cheese to go on top of it and it turns it from crap into something they will like. Heck, use whole wheat soft taco shells even.

[Whistlebritches]

I LOVED taco burgers when I was a kid. It was the only thing that my parents could get me to eat when they wanted mexican food. It's basically a not-so-sloppy joe with taco seasoning and you can still put lettuce, tomatoes and cheese on it.