L.A. Times: Students Reject Healthier Cafeteria Fare
The L.A. Times has a terrific story about just how difficult it is to get students to eat healthy -- even when the other options are taken off the cafeteria menu.
When asked what they would eat for lunch instead of the healthier options, two students reached in their backpacks for Cheetos and soda.
First Lady Michelle Obama has made reducing childhood obesity the centerpiece of her public agenda, and schools play an important role in that campaign. But as the L.A. Times story makes clear, you can lead students to tofu but you can't make them eat it.
I wrote a story a few years ago about junk food being banned from high school vending machines. The results weren't quite what the school board had in mind. Convenience stores in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus reported sales of snacks and soda had increased sharply in the hours immediately before -- and after -- classes. The schools lost the revenue from the vending machines.
In case you missed it, public school teacher Sarah Wu at the cafeteria meals for a year ... and survived. Her book (based on her popular blog) is now out. Click here for a Public Radio International interview with Wu.
Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email me at erichmond@ewa.org. I'm also on Twitter @EWAEmily.
When asked what they would eat for lunch instead of the healthier options, two students reached in their backpacks for Cheetos and soda.
First Lady Michelle Obama has made reducing childhood obesity the centerpiece of her public agenda, and schools play an important role in that campaign. But as the L.A. Times story makes clear, you can lead students to tofu but you can't make them eat it.
I wrote a story a few years ago about junk food being banned from high school vending machines. The results weren't quite what the school board had in mind. Convenience stores in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus reported sales of snacks and soda had increased sharply in the hours immediately before -- and after -- classes. The schools lost the revenue from the vending machines.
In case you missed it, public school teacher Sarah Wu at the cafeteria meals for a year ... and survived. Her book (based on her popular blog) is now out. Click here for a Public Radio International interview with Wu.
Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email me at erichmond@ewa.org. I'm also on Twitter @EWAEmily.
Labels: climate, Fed Up With Lunch, k12_finance, L.A. Times, michelle obama, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Public Radio International, Sarah Wu
posted by Emily Richmond at
3:00 AM
4 Comments:
I was very disappointed reading the LA Times story. I'm passionate about educating kids to eat healthy. Part of it starts in the home, but outside influences (such as what classmates eat) impact kids' decisions outside the home. The trick is to cook healthy food that people like, and that's even a challenge with adults. I hope refinements to the menu and other glitches are hammered out soon. Young people can't afford to wait any longer.
Jana, I thought it was noteworthy that the students apparently liked the meals produced by the test kitchen, but the actual cafeteria versions failed to please. That sounds like the concept is sound but the "delivery" needs some work.
Here in San Francisco we were ahead of the curve in removing junk food from our district vending machines and a la carte sales, and we didn't experience the negative impact. New standards for vending machines still allow for snack foods that kids like well enough to not venture away from school in search of junkier junk. The standards set a maximum amount of calories and fat and require a certain amount of nutrients. Only water, milk (including soymilk) and 100% fruit juice are allowed. Lists of approved products are based on those standards. Here's the approved list of snack items:
http://www.sfusdfood.org/pdfs/snacks.pdf
And here's the approved list of drinks:
http://www.sfusdfood.org/pdfs/beverage.pdf
Here's the rubric for evaluating vending machine items:
http://www.sfusdfood.org/pdfs/vendrubr.pdf
This all began with a pilot project at my kids' San Francisco public middle school back in 2002. One of the first actions was replacing the 20-oz. Pepsi soft drinks with Pepsi's line of bottled water (entirely -- only water was available in the machines). Sales rose.
When we were working on replacing the junk food items in the a la carte lines (I was a parent volunteer on the committee for many years), scoffers claimed kids wouldn't eat healthy foods. They were envisioning the kinds of items that actually DO appear to be on the LAUSD menus. Replacing corn dogs and fries with quinoa-lentil patties does seems a bit risky, but replacing corn dogs and fries with BBQ chicken and rice is kid-friendly too.
Exactly. Emily, I also found a shred of hope that the problem may be taking things to scale. It's clear that, with anything else, regular monitoring needs to happen after a program is implemented. Jamie Oliver found similar issues with his Food Revolution tour...when he returned to the schools to check in on them, some went back down the slippery slope. Anyway, thanks for highlighting this issue. It's serious.
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