Local Foods
Real Food in School Lunches 
"School lunch isn’t just about the food. It’s also about what food means in culture and communities. Good school lunch program teaches kids that food matters, how it’s produced, what gets done with it, and how it is consumed. These are important lessons that ought to be in every curriculum. "
-Marion Nestle, PhD
Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, NYU
First Lady Michelle Obama launched her "Let's Move!" campaign on February 9. Here is some information from the National PTA on this campaign to combat childhood obesity.
The campaign is a comprehensive effort to raise public awareness and take simple, achievable steps to improve the health of our nation's children. Michelle Obama has outlined her basic principles for this effort by identifying the following goals:
- Helping parents make healthy family choices
- Providing healthier food in schools
- Helping kids be more physically active
- Providing greater access to healthy, affordable food
For more information visit the Let's Move website.
President Obama's budget request, if approved by congress, has an additional $1 billion for each of the next 10 years to improve our nation's child nutrition programs. These funds are intended to pay for improvements when Congress takes up the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act later this year.
Currently, poor quality, overly processed food products are mandated in most public schools. If you feel that it's a basic human right to have good quality, real food available in schools, now is the time to advocate for those beliefs.
On a national level:
This year, the Child Nutrition Act, which is the law that determines what 30 million children eat at school every day, is up for reauthorization, providing us with more opportunity to fix this problem. Congress will be addressing this between January and March 2010 in a scheduled 5 year review.
Slow Food USA is advocating for 3 things related to the school lunch program:
1) Funding for an extra $1.00 per child per day.
2) Approval of the Child Nutrition Act of 2009 (requiring no junk food in schools).
3) A guarantee of 50 million dollars for funding Farm to School Programs.
On a local level:
A vast community in the Kansas City Metro area is concerned about the food our children eat at school. In the midst of a national obesity epidemic, our schools struggle to serve anything but the fast food and junk food that endangers children’s health.
For more information about the campaign, or to learn how you can advocate for and be of service to this cause, please contact Rochelle at (816) 392-4546.
Here are some things you can do:
* Tell your legislators in Congress that it’s time to give schools the resources to serve real food. Contact your legislators by writing them a letter or making a phone call today.
* Sign the Time for Lunch petition.
* E-mail or call Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, with your concerns - (202) 720-3631.
Other helpful links:
Slow Food USA
The Kansas City Food Circle
The Lunch Box - a project of F3: Food Family Farming Foundation
The Food Research and Action Center
The School Nutrition Association- for info on National School Breakfast Week, March 8-12, 2010