Twenty years ago, I was waking up early to type, just like I am this morning.
As early as third grade, my best friend and I wrote and published a “newspaper” for our class, reporting on such scintillating and crucial stories as who was sliding on the ice at recess (complete with illustrations…never a talent of mine, unfortunately!), the size of the new buses the district purchased, and brain teaser games that we wrote ourselves.
I still have a strong memory of getting up at 5:00 in the morning – once – to push out our newspaper on a self-set “deadline,” punching the keys on an ancient typewriter – ancient even then in the mid 1980s, the kind where each keystroke took all my 60-pound bodyweight, the return was via manual lever complete with “ding!”, and each mistake required correction tape to be inserted as the deviant letter was retyped in white. Does anyone even know what correction tape is anymore? That’s one old typewriter…
In sixth grade, then, when some dedicated teacher began an official school newspaper, it was a shoe-in that the two of us would apply. The best story I remember from that year was about school lunch and the waste it generated. I had always had a green consciousness, at least from the time I received 50 Simple Things Kids can do to Save the Earth in fourth or fifth grade.
My friend and I studied lunchtime waste every day for a week, standing by the garbage cans in the cafeteria (our gymnasium with tables) and instructing fellow students to separate their waste into different receptacles for food, liquid, and trash. We weighed the results each day and posted a graph as part of our article. Pizza spins generated the least food waste; and something very forgettable that clearly no one liked, the most.
The final day of the project, we got to spend the entire morning shadowing the elementary school cooks. They made all the rolls and brownies from scratch and served a fairly balanced meal on reusable melamine trays. We even got to help serve lunch to the school, and we were amazed at how much work massive quantity cooking can be. I’m guessing after that I stopped making fun of the way the rolls went back to dough when you squished a piece between your fingers.
What I learned that week is beginning to haunt me as I read Sarah Wu’s Fed Up With Lunch, not because we thought our meals were so terrible in school, but mostly because today’s children have it so very much worse.
One Teacher, One Incredible Brainstorm
Back in 2009, Sarah Wu, a speech pathologist in Chicago Public Schools, forgot her lunch. It would be a fateful day. 
She decided to just grab school lunch, a disturbing experience that launched a project in which she ate school lunch every day for the entirety of 2010, took pictures of the food, and blogged about it each night at FedUpWithLunch.com, using the alias “Mrs. Q.”
The book of the same name, published last fall, has been such a fun read for me.
I admit, I think I loved it most of all because I’m a blogger, and reading about a blogger doing the blogging thing and seeking balance and dealing with comments and all that stuff that I do too (that no one else in real life understands) was like a guilty pleasure. Besides that, I met Sarah last January in person, so it was like reading an old friend’s story.
She details the behind-the-scenes story of the project and the blog, from that first fateful, cardboard-esque bite, to deciding to blog, to her jitters about being interviewed on national television while she was still anonymous online. Readers are invited into her home to experience family life with her husband and young son, exploring food sensitivities in little Charlie and watching Sarah’s husband learn to cook with amazing passion.
I learned some shocking facts via Fed Up With Lunch:
- Most kids in America have less than 20 minutes for lunch, including lining up time and getting back to the classroom. This translates in reality into about 10 minutes sitting at the table. Our family never gets a meal in our bellies in less than half an hour…
- Chicago Public Schools serves everything in individually packaged portions.
- First graders can’t open the packages, so they have to spend some of their precious 10 minutes waiting for a cafeteria “lunch lady” to come around with a spork and pierce all the plastic coverings.
- Fruit “Icee” popsicle thingys count as a serving of fruit as far as the USDA is concerned. They are made of water, high fructose corn syrup, a bit of apple juice, fake flavorings, and artificial food coloring. Most kids eat this first, prioritizing their 10 minutes.
- Most kids also down their chocolate milk laced with HFCS, quite often at the expense of the rest of the meal.
- The USDA is in charge of school lunch, completely separate from the Department of Education. Apparently, food is not something to learn about. (Sarah Wu and I think it should be part of the curriculum.)
- When kids have recess before lunch instead of after, a study showed that “less food goes to waste and students end up eating more of the healthful offerings on their lunch trays, such as fruit and veggies. Additionally, nurse visits drop 40 percent.” Guess when my child goes outside to play? It’s one of the things on my mental list that I want to advocate about…
- CPS offers no recess time to any child.
- Yes, you read that right. No recess. Even in early elementary.
- There are schools being built in our nation with zero playgrounds. Those kids, obviously, will not get recess either.
- Yes, you read that right. I am in shock as well. What will that do to kids’ social development, not to mention their physical fitness, ability to concentrate in school, and their waistlines???
Sarah has become a passionate school food advocate, something this introverted young mom never would have predicted two years ago before starting the project. The end of the book gives lots of advice on how to work for positive change in the school food agenda, starting with parents.
Her advice is to begin by observing: join your child for lunch at school and see what the situation is in your community. I encourage you to do the same.
The only thing I might pick on about the book is that it seemed repetitive. Some of the facts about chocolate milk, time to eat, and food quality were brought up again and again, and because the chronology was linear through the school year, many subjects were revisited.
Perhaps Sarah Wu was simply relying on her teaching knowledge, knowing that people need repetition to really learn, but I started getting just a wee bit “fed up” when I encountered certain subjects for the fifth or sixth time. (Check out Sarah’s top 5 way parents can improve school lunch – you get a good summary of the book’s meat here.)
The anecdotes, research quotes, and news stories about school lunch, however, “filled me up” and got me fired up to study school lunch in our community to see what we can do to clean it up. (I’m sharing some of my thoughts on my goals in a separate post.) The book is an incredibly enjoyable and very enlightening read.
The Fed Up with Lunch project changed Sarah’s life for the better, and I have no doubt that reading her book will change yours, if only for a day.
My hope, and Sarah’s as well, is that if you read about the status of school lunch today, you will be inspired to be an agent of change. She and I want to challenge you to be a school food advocate – to follow in her footsteps and the footsteps of Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolutions (sign the petition!).
Study your child’s school lunch program and see what you can do to enact positive change in the menu offered, the time allowed to eat, and the general conversation about food and nutrition in your district.
Visit Sarah at her blog or grab the book – check your library first, of course! I can’t share her photos of school lunch with you, but they’re definitely worth a look!!!
What is your school lunch like? What would you change if you could? What do you love about it?
UPDATE: My follow up thoughts on fixing school lunch…
I’ve been gabbing about school food this week. Did you miss:
- Juice makes you pee your pants (and other reasons not to drink it)
- Free printable: Juice Decoder
- The Dangers of Artificial Sweeteners: Are they Safe for Kids?
- My 6-year-old, the Green Activist (Juice Pouch Recycling)
- My experience with school health class and “healthy” snacks
———————————————
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Disclosure: I received a copy of FUWL at no charge for my review, and I’m friends/colleagues with Sarah Wu, but no one can pay for my opinion! I’m also an affiliate with Amazon and will make a small commission if you end up buying anything there…but check the library first, please! See my full disclosure statement here.
If you think that’s disturbing…I worked at a headstart with a “healthy start initiative”…every kid had for BREAKFAST a donut hole that contained “all the vitamins and minerals needed for a whole day!” and 500 calories and 27 grams of fat!
With a dixie cup of skim milk!
[Reply to this comment]
I am so happy my daughter is in preschool and we don’t have to deal with the school lunch war yet. I’m hopeful there will be great progress in the next couple of years as more and more moms (and bloggers) shed light on the lack of nutrition being offered to our school children.
[Reply to this comment]
I find those things happening across the country appalling and I feel so blessed to be in a exceptional school district in Texas. While I do pack my kindergarteners lunch most days, I am relieved that if he does have school lunch on occasion I don’t need to cringe about what he is eating. They have only white milk, they have two choices of meals, one being a vegetarian option. They have healthy sides (baked sweet potato fries, green beans, steamed broccoli etc) Nothing is fried and all grains are whole wheat including pasta. Many school have salad bars. Breakfast has oatmeal, yogurt parait, sweet potato muffin, breakfast burrito etc. I know it is not as nourishing as something I would prepare, but at least I don’t need to feel guilty if we have a rough morning and I tell him to buy lunch that day. And I know for many kids in our district, it is probably the most nutritious meal presented to them all day. So I feel very blessed. (Oh and they do still get recess too
[Reply to this comment]
Sara Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Wow, this is great. You are lucky to live in an area with such great food options at the schools!
[Reply to this comment]
My son is in kindergarten this year so it is my first experience with school lunch in a large district. I’ve been concerned about the offerings from the beginning. It amazes me what qualifies as a “healthy” lunch. Yesterday the main dish was a cinnamon roll and little smokies. Today the main dish is a cheese-filled breadstick. They also have all of the sides preportioned but the kids aren’t forced to take anything other than the main dish (so many probably end up without any fruits and veggies). When I was in school we had to take everything and we had to try it all. A neighbor who is a teacher in the district says the quality is horrible. And I know time is an issue as well. The first day of school my son had no clue what he was doing so he only took the main dish. No one made him take sides. And they wouldn’t let him go back to get sides since he hadn’t taken them the first time. At least my son gets healthy meals and snacks and home and we have the option of sending him a nutritious lunch from home. But there are many students at his school who come from low income families. What about the kids whose only meals are school lunches? It’s sad to think that’s the only food they get and it isn’t healthy or well-rounded at all. I think I may check out this book to get some ideas on what I can do.
[Reply to this comment]
This is completely unacceptable. Perhaps if all school administrators, teachers, cafeteria workers and PARENTS were required to eat these lunches on a daily basis, things would change. And no recess? That is ridiculous. Children need to move and play. The public wonders why we spend all this money on education yet the children aren’t learning? The answers are right there!
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Amen!
[Reply to this comment]
My husband teaches high school. There are 3,000 students in his school (pretty average for our area). The school has two, 25 minute lunch periods. So 1500 kids have to get through lunch in 25 minutes. Some schools here don’t bother to break for lunch – they have a 10 minute “nutrition break” and then just end the day earlier (cause eating isn’t really THAT important, right?!). Many of my husband’s students don’t even bother to eat lunch because they just don’t have enough time to get to the cafeteria, stand in line to get food and eat.
Can we not just add 10-15 minutes to the day and add some time to the lunch period? My husband would love some extra time himself to eat lunch because he also has to scarf down his lunch (brought from home) in 25 minutes (or less if he’s helping students during that time).
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Camille,
Oh good grief, a nutrition break???? That’s ridiculous. Read anything about food and you’re supposed to sit down, eat properly, and not multi-task. What a shame!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
It would be interesting to see how different a typical prison inmate’s diet and excercise would be. Or that of a lab rat.
No way on earth I would allow (subject) my kids to consume a diet like I have seen described in your post and the comments. Just no. I understand that circumstances make that very hard to do for some people, so I am very glad you are taking up this challenge and have so much support.
My daughter and I were talking about the changes that our family’s diet has experienced over the past several years. Although we never consumed a lot of processed food, we do, as she said, “have a lot less junk now”. She was specifically referrring to commercial granola type bars, boxed cereal, some canned soup, and maybe a half dozen different mixes. Here’s the best part. She does not like those things any more. She said that the homemade version is so much better, based on taste alone. Then when you consider the known nutritional benefits of one version balanced against the potentially harmful aspects of the other, homemade leaves the commercial products at the starting gate.
I heard the other day that if a food label makes any health claim whatsoever, it should probably be left on the shelf. Natural, real foods, like walnuts, are not permitted those claims. Factory Developed, Advertised foods can have references to health. What’s wrong with that picture?
[Reply to this comment]
I have two children still at the public school…one a senior & the other a sophomore. We are a “home-packed-lunch” family. I really should do the math, because I know that over the years I must have made literally thousands of lunches. And I’m sure I’ve saved a sizeable amount of cash as well!!
Some favorites here are various wraps, soup or chili in a thermos, salads (with a serving of meat), cold pizza from the night before, a serving of fruit (in the spring or fall this will be from the garden), & a homebaked something or other. Nothing fancy….but certainly substantial. My kids have told me terrible stories of the food wasted, & how they witness kids taking the portions required to pass inspection & then just throwing them away.
I was convinced that when my son began his sophomore year it would be social suicide for him to take the lunch that I’d made for him. It could still happen that he wants to eat the school meals next year, but so far, so good. For a long time he was the only one at his lunch table who brought lunch from home, & I do think it bothered him. Slowly, I began hearing stories of one kid here & one kid there who was bringing one as well….hmm.
[Reply to this comment]
My son brings his lunch primarily because the school lunches at all Pittsburgh public schools are prepared at a central facility, placed in polystyrene foam trays, and then REHEATED IN THE TRAYS before serving. We are not willing to expose him to those chemicals or contribute to that waste. Furthermore, he often comes home with stories about what other kids were eating for school lunch that day; I am glad that he regards those foods with horror instead of envy!
His school uses a whole 40-minute class period for 3 grades to have lunch+recess. A grade and a half has lunch first, then recess; the other grade and a half has recess first, then lunch. It’s interesting that kids who have recess first eat better! My childhood schools had everyone eating before recess so that slower eaters could stay and finish (the whole period was 30 minutes) and I appreciated that, but I think 20 minutes is, just barely, adequate eating time.
My son’s school also has a nice long recess separate from lunch, at least for younger grades.
They also have a school garden and cooking classes where they sample the food they grew. The teacher in charge of this program sends enthusiastic newsletters to parents talking about what the kids ate, and I hope that influences parents to serve more fresh produce at home. Even I have had my horizons expanded: Have you ever eaten ground-cherries?
What his school doesn’t have is any convenient way to wash hands before eating!! When I visited my old school a few years ago, it had done away with that too. We used to form a slow-moving line that, before we got to the serving counter, passed a large sink with misting warm water, soap at one end, and paper towels at the other. Everyone had to wash hands, and the importance of doing so was regularly mentioned. Seems to be out of fashion now.
Prior to public school, my son attended a preschool/childcare center that was not part of the USDA lunch program so had little excuse for its poor-quality food! Their “kitchen” had only Crockpots and microwaves, and there was no cook–teachers took turns making lunch–but even among easily heated and ready-to-serve foods there are better choices. They favored the least nutritious canned fruits and vegs (pears, corn), battered meatlike objects with lots of additives, and super-sweet pastries with trans fat and artificial coloring, for children 0-5 years old! We let him eat some of it because it was included in tuition and convenient, but we sent substitutes for the scariest items. At least THEY had all the kids wash their hands before every meal.
[Reply to this comment]
When I was in school, I got 3 recesses in first grade (usually — sometimes we were too busy for the third one), 2 recesses in 2nd and 3rd grade, and 1 recess 4 – 5 grade. Then a 45-min. lunch period during which we could take a “recess” if we wanted throughout middle and high school. This was sufficient.
The schools’ priorities are just incredibly off. They keep pushing MORE academics at earlier ages yet children are doing worse on tests. They’re cutting physical education and the arts to the bone — if they offer them at all (I have a degree in music education so I have a strong interest in this!). The whole thing makes me sick, and that’s before we get to the food!
We’re homeschooling. I’m not going to spend my life advocating for tiny changes and fighting for my kids when I could spend that time educating them myself. I know that’s not the right choice for everyone, but that is our best option, at least in the early years.
[Reply to this comment]
Only one of the reasons to keep your children at home – public school today is no place for youngsters.
[Reply to this comment]
Unbelievable! I grouse about having to pack lunches for my children but I choose to so they do not have to eat the school lunches.
I think children should have to learn about healthy food too. I have volunteered to lead an extra-curricular activity at my child’s school once a week called Food Fun. My goal is to teach the children how to choose and make quick, simple, healthy, real-food recipes.
[Reply to this comment]
Just another reason why, if we were blessed with kids, they would be homeschooled, if at all possible! Good luck getting your school to make changes!
)
[Reply to this comment]
I know it’s been mentioned before. . . Homeschooling is a great option to the lunch and school snack dilemna.
My kids have lots of time to eat their homemade lunch, and they wash the dishes afterwards (great life skills learned here!). In fact, the kids often help make the lunch, and sometimes we have meals that go along with what we’re learning.
I don’t think I give my kids for so many hours to an institution whose ideas are so far from mine.
[Reply to this comment]
Oh
Yes, about lunch. And exercise. I have written about this on BB and bringing up these issues to a mainstream audience gets a shoulder shrug which really concerns me. I just requested nutrition info from school and there was so much they had to give me a DISC. That is scary…
[Reply to this comment]
Ridiculous. Now, homemade popsicles made from fresh juice and coconut milk…mmm…I think I need some of those. and yes, they do count as fruit!
[Reply to this comment]
wow…but yet, when I worked day care, we couldn’t count pudding as a dairy serving even though it has a ton of milk in it
[Reply to this comment]
We have moved so I’m not sure how school lunches are served where we are living now, but my kids seem to like them. My daughter says they have good black-eyed peas, but she likes veggies so I trust she eats a variety of foods when she buys. Where we lived before one thing I noticed was the kids served themselves. There were kindergartners putting mounds of pudding on their plate. The kids would have to get a minimum of 3 items so some would pick pudding, chocolate milk and chicken nuggets. One thing that contributes to obesity is lack of portion control. Adults should serve up the food to make sure kids get variety and control the portions.
[Reply to this comment]
I remember learning, as a student teacher, several years ago FROM THE NUTRITIONIST, that ketchup and salsa counted as veggies. I think they may have changed that, but it really is ridiculous! Blessed not to have to deal with that, since we homeschool.
[Reply to this comment]
Yep, I remember a school being able to sell sugary fruit-flavored drinks because they had Vitamin C in them.
[Reply to this comment]
When I was a kid, we had 15-minute morning and afternoon recesses, and lunch recess was half an hour long.
[Reply to this comment]
Our grade school serves appropriate portions, a real fruit and a real veggie with lunch, nonfat milk and bottled water, and they get at least 2 recesses plus PE everyday. I guess we’re lucky and this is not the norm??? Apparently I’m also one of the few who has skinny beanpoles for children and they struggle to put on weight… therefore I am guilty of letting them eat whatever they want, within reason of course!
[Reply to this comment]
The recess claim for Chicago Public Schools is no longer accurate. I know it used to be (and that is awful), but the district is requiring recess for all elementary students now.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8515160
And this piece from NPR this morning about a looming teacher strike mentions it, too.
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/07/160711452/recess-in-chicago-strike-threat-draws-national-eyes
[Reply to this comment]