Lunch Week: What’s up with School Lunch?

It’s still slow going with school lunch, but efforts to improve it are gaining momentum in Miami and around the country:

Two years ago, I reported on the school lunch revamp at Saint Patrick School  in Miami Beach. This year, Miami Dade schools teamed up with farms and chefs to get local, healthy meals into school vending machines. Michelle Bernstein (when does she get this full night of sleep she talks about?), Michael Schwartz and Kris Wessel consulted on the menu development.

The Star Food Healthy Express vending machines dispense snacks and entrees like yogurt parfaits and chicken and veggie wraps with fruit salsa. But more vending machine companies are getting into the business of selling what the industry calls “nutrition snacks” at schools and offices.    Nutrition experts are split on the machines –some feel that Americans’ excessive snacking is the root of many of our health problems.

“Processed food is processed food. If only we could do fresh fruit…Why do we even need vending machines?” –Dr. Paul Simon (Los Angeles County Department of Public Health)

Meanwhile, more folks are hearing about school lunch via reality tv and government campaigns. You might have caught the first season of Jamie Oliver’s  Food Revolution and wondered whether there would be any lasting effects.  A year later, students are eating healthier than ever at Huntington, West Virginia schools.

“The culinary crusader may have focused the national klieg lights on this otherwise quiet Appalachian city, but it’s local officials that have done the real work of overhauling school food.”–Jane Black (via Gilt Taste)

Here’s a visual representation of where we’ve come from and where we may be going with school lunch by Paul Schrynemakers.

 

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