Back to Basics: Healthy Food in Schools

Between rising rates of childhood obesity and related diseases like Type 2 diabetes, there's a lot of talk about child nutrition, especially in public schools. Despite all of the hype around healthy food in schools, most schools still offer standard cafeteria food that is highly processed and not very well balanced, laden with fats, sugar, and salt. But what actions are actually being taken to combat poor nutrition and unhealthy food choices in American schools?

Enter the whistleblowers. Parents, educators, school nutritionists still need to clamor for better food in schools. Most recently an anonymous teacher has begun to chronicle her year of eating school lunch everyday in an effort to raise awareness and get the inside scoop. So far her meals have included pizza, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, fruit cocktail, limo steamed veggies, and the ubiquitous cartons of milk. Sound at all familiar? We all know this sort of food is served in schools everywhere, and rarely meets even the USDA nutrition standards. So now what?

I happen to be a big proponent of farm-to-school programs. I think it's a really great way to get fresh, healthy food into school cafeterias while simultaneously helping out local farms and the local economy. But it is not without its flaws and complications, the biggest of which is still expense, because in all honesty, fresh, local, and hopefully organic peas are a bit pricier than the kind that come in a can. While farm-to-school initiatives are taking root and gathering steam across the country, they are still very much the exception.

I also dig the idea of an "edible schoolyard," which is even less common in practice, as a means to get healthy food in schools. The Edible Schoolyard was popularized by Alice Waters,the force behind Chez Panisse and the Food Revolution, and although there's a lot of excitement around the program, it officially exists in a mere six schools nationwide (that said, there are other, very similar projects).  The program involves having a full garden adjacent to the school, as well as greenhouses, and a kitchen where kids prepare, cook and eat food, and are involved in every step of growing the produce. These programs are hugely expensive to build and run. The new infrastructure needed for the first East Coast Edible Schoolyard in Brooklyn will cost $1.6 million, which will be gleaned from private funding sources and donors. According to a recent and highly controversial article in the Atlantic Monthly on Waters and Edible Schoolyard programs, school gardening programs might not exactly be the cure-all we're looking for, at least from an educational standpoint. Although I disagree that such programs are "failing" to adequately integrate practical education with the cultivation of healthy food, I am more interested in examining other, less trendy, more attainable methods of injecting our schools with greater awareness and access to healthy, fresh food.

The federal guidelines require school lunches, or at least subsidized school lunches, to meet daily needs for fat and calories, which they certainly do. However they don't stipulate that food must be fresh, or all that nutritious. Changing school nutrition policy is certainly a good place for us to start, and is perhaps where the many, many concerned whistleblowers should direct their attention. Affecting state policy might be a little less daunting and have greater benefits. Recently California passed legislation that limits junk food available in schools while demanding healthier food. The state also began a pilot program that would further subsidize school lunches that incorporate fresh produce. School districts themselves can choose to adopt higher nutrition standards and make good food a priority for their students. It does require some money, and a change in how we think about and value food.

As important as linking kids with farms and food at its source is, we still have a long way to go until the majority of schools are able to get to that goal. In the meantime, we need to focus on simply improving the nutritional content of school food, simply integrating fresh fruits and vegetables into meals and lessening the amounts of overly processed food served in cafeterias. In order work towards national adoption of farm-to-school and edible schoolyard-like programs, we first need to take care of the basics and rebuild the foundation.