Do school lunches make you sick?
No time to make lunch for your kids? If you are like many parents, there is no time to do anything in the morning besides getting everyone some form of breakfast, gathering up the kids and their backpacks, and hustling them off to school as quickly as possible. You get no slack if you are late to work.
The children can get lunch in the cafeteria, you reason. After all, that’s what you did when you were in school and you survived. The lunch choices in your day weren’t perfect (mashed potatoes, canned green beans, and meatloaf), but weren’t they more or less nutritious? Would the schools have served them if they weren’t?
Sadly, you are probably wrong about how healthy lunches are in your youngsters’ schools. Things have changed a lot since you were a kid. Even if there are healthy choices available in some of the more enlightened school districts, by and large “Vending Machines Rule!" Yes, many school districts have taken on the issue of sweetened soda pop in school vending machines. But many more still offer not only sodas, but also Pop Tarts, fudge brownies, and Rice Krispie Treats.
And what about the choices in the cafeteria proper? Christopher Kimball, founder and editor of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine and host of America’s Test Kitchen, a public television cooking show, tells us what his young children told him they are eating at school:
“Eggo waffles, reheated French toast with maple-flavored corn syrup, hot dogs, ersatz mac and cheese, and canned sweetened fruit for dessert.”
After he heard this, he sent some of his test kitchen staff to investigate the state of lunches in the Boston public schools. According to an editorial he wrote in the Boston Globe, this is what they found: The lunches often include "French toast sticks, egg rolls, and the famous Uncrustable prepackaged sandwiches." They did find some moderately good choices (pork in mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes and corn), but right next to the “healthy” choices were a la carte items such as Tater Tots, pizza, potato chips, and Cheetos.”
Cheetos? Can anything that is fluorescent orange really be good for your kids?
Chris was outraged. But he is turning his outrage into action. He has founded a non-profit, “Parents Against Junk Food.” This is a good old-fashioned call-to-action website that aims to get parents riled up about this issue.
Chris writes in his editorial:
““One day, mothers and fathers across America are going to wake up, throw open the window, and yell, “We’re mad, and we’re not going to take it anymore!””
Way to go, Chris! Yes, parents need to be responsible for their kids’ health and well-being, but we need to ask for, no demand, that the public institutions that we pay for with our hard-earned tax dollars, support us in our efforts keep our kids healthy and safe.