Tossing Out School Lunches: First World Problem?
School districts thought they won a hard-fought battle, getting school cafeterias to replace fries with carrots and pizza with…whole wheat pizza. And yet, reports keeping coming out about all the food that ends up in the trash can because kids are throwing out the healthy stuff, declaring the tasteless good-for-you foods an abomination on freedom and just plain boring.
All this waste is enough to get Jonathan Bloom up in arms, but it also speaks to how in the U.S., children’s palates have become so desensitized to flavor that anything that doesn’t taste like lime burst blueberry isn’t worthy of eating. So students would rather throw away real food and complain about how hungry they are. Meanwhile, there are a number of adults who are not only perpetuating this cycle by providing overly sweetened, processed foods, but are also declaring any sort of school lunch police an infringement on rights. Is it really only a matter of freedom and personal responsibility when taxpayers dollars do go to subsidizing school lunches for everyone? Should we as taxpayers be supporting sugared flavored milks and sweetened items that are causing children to have cavities earlier and earlier?
Not to mention: are we somewhat spoiled to even have this discussion when there are so many in the U.S. and beyond that would find it difficult to turn down a perfectly healthy carrot (albeit, perhaps a bit boring) because well, it’s food. And when you’re really going hungry, throwing away sustenance seems to be an incomprehensible waste.
If you haven’t seen John Stewart’s take on kids are going hungry because of “too healthy” options, this is worth a few minutes of your time:
Okay, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the Jon Stewart clip! But seriously, this is such a difficult problem for parents of teenagers. I’ve raised one of both kinds – my oldest daughter loves healthy food and is willing to try all kinds of things. My youngest daughter is a very picky eater and doesn’t really like vegetables. I keep trying to put good options in front of her, and hope that she’ll grow into a healthy appetite!
I am going to watch it!!!!! I am very lucky, because my son doesn’t like fast food and loves vegetables and fruits, but this is a huge problem in the US.
This is such an interesting topic- I’m glad to see the changes in the schools and hope it keeps going in that direction and hopefully soon kids won’t even notice the change!
Love this. Something I am discovering … if a child knows they can count on getting the sugary/salty/unnaturally colorful stuff in one setting, it’s pretty easy to pass up the healthy stuff in another setting. Why eat a healthy lunch if you can hold out for the fun stuff later?
I’ve seen school lunches in the US and I’m very disappointed. Not just school problem but it’s also parents who need to educate your children about eating. Definitely home and school needs to work together to make sure kids eat healthy and early eating habit will last long long time after they become an adult. It’s great to be aware of this issue.
Carrots boring? Nooooooooo, not at all, even my picky husband adores raw carrots.
This is such a difficult problem because of the variety of restrictions school cafeterias have not to mention the ever so broad ranges of palates they have to cater to. I think an appreciation for healthy good quality food starts at home.