Tuesday, August 27, 2013

School Lunch: Nobility vs. the Common Man

What do the Obama kids eat for lunch? Here is their typical, everyday lunch. 

Actual fruit from the Meriwether-Godsey catering co.
Here is the latest lunch menu for the Sidwell Friends School where the Obama kids go.
September 19, 2013

Chilled Strawberry Soup
Roasted Vegetable & Israeli Couscous Salad
Collard Salad with Local Tomatoes, Bacon & Mushrooms
Sweet Italian Sausages
Fresh Hummus & Veggie
Carmelized Onions & Peppers
Gemelli Pasta & Fresh Pesto
Local Nectarines
organic milk, greens station, whole fruit always available for lunch 
For more beautiful pictures of organic, locally grown, gourmet menu items, see the Meriwether-Godsey facebook page.

What does First Lady Michelle Obama want your kids to eat (per the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010)?

Photo source (pdf)

801 calories:
Grilled chicken/bun
Hot ham/cheese sandwich
Broccoli w/ cheese
Fresh grapes
Lettuce/tomato
Peaches
Apple juice/Orange juice
Low Fat Milk Choices: Low Fat 1% White, Fat Free Chocolate, Strawberry and Skim (reportedly tastes like vomit)


The growing body of USDA meal regulations implemented by the Department of Agriculture under the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010″ has long been a signature issue for the first lady. 
... 
Their primary concern at the board meeting was a bevy of complaints that local children are starving at lunch — and for the remainder of the school day — because the food on offer in the cafeteria is crappy and there isn’t nearly enough of it.
“Kids can’t learn when they’re hungry!” parents shouted to the board, according to the Enterprise.
Other gripes involved the new bread, which students don’t want to eat because it’s brown wheat bread, and the new milk, which is skim or one percent fat, not two percent or whole. The cafeteria’s chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milk offerings are now nonfat.
Jack Miniard, the school district’s director of school and community nutrition, was on hand to explain that the federal government now governs both food choices and portion sizes in most American school districts including Harlan County.
Under the National School Lunch Program, participating schools must provide lunches — including free or reduced price lunches — with minimum amounts of fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and whole grains. Also, in what presumably falls outside the hunger-free aspect of the act, there’s a calorie cap: 850 for high school lunches, 700 for middle schools and a mere 650 calories for kids in elementary school.

Students can only have one serving of meat or other protein. However, rich kids can buy a second portion each day on their own dime.
Servings of carbohydrates such as potatoes are limited to just a single serving of three-fourths of a cup per student.
On the plus side, students can eat as many fruits and vegetables as they want.
Across the country, students and parents have expressed dissatisfaction with the federal government’s new food regime. Some wealthier suburban school districts are simply backing out of the National School Lunch Program, though doing so can mean giving up a six-figure annual subsidy for the district. (RELATED: First lady-backed school lunch regs cost school district $100,000)
Sample menu from Harlan County Public School District (pdf)

Looking at the two pictures above, it's hard not to extend the expectation of inequality between government nobility and the American common man to things like... oh, I don't know... health care plans and curriculum standards.

Credit to Mike Van Fossen for contributions to this article.

UPDATE: Watch Michelle Obama's Welcome Back to School video below.




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15 comments:

Right Wingnut said...

My kids have always brought their own lunch to school, but last year, many of their friends were complaining about being hungry in the afternoon because of the reduced portions. Most of them eventually started bring their own lunch.

Katrina L. Lantz said...

Well that's a positive unintended consequence.

Anonymous said...

I have to admit I don't know much about the new lunch standards, but I think it's obviously a good idea to try to make these lunches healthier. White bread is plain crap, IMO. So is white rice, pasta, and most cereals. The fried food they serve at schools is terrible.

I also think kids just plain need to learn to eat more fruits and vegetables! These need to be available to students in unlimited supply. Schools simply should not be feeding bad food to children period. Not with the knowledge we now have of nutrition. You can make healthy food taste good without spending too much. Most of what schools have served for years simply isn't healthy, and we know now that we can prevent so many diseases simply by eating healthy food. I do think that the calorie counts sounds low, though.

RW, yeah, sending lunch is the only way to guarantee your kids are getting good healthy food they like.

-Martha

Right Wingnut said...

At least half of the pictured meal would end up in the garbage if they expected my kids to eat it. They'd probably eat the bun, peaches, and maybe some of the meat.

Anonymous said...

RW, the problem is that our kids have been trained to eat crappy food for too long. We start off the day by feeding them unhealthy cereals, muffins, or donuts. Even pancakes are bad. We feed them fries, 'chicken' nuggets, boxed mac and cheese, etc. Chips, candy, soda pop--how on earth do we expect kids to like the healthy stuff?

Sure it's hard to get on a better path. I don't know how to change it, but it needs to change.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

But I'm not suggesting its the governments job. But if the government is paying for these meals, they ought at least to be healthy.

-Martha

Right Wingnut said...

My kids eat healthy. Typical lunch will be whole grain bus, deli ham, cheese, some fruit and a snack. They're just too picky to eat the crappy ham and bun served in a school cafeteria. There's no way to make them eat the food if you're not there. Must send stuff they like.

Anonymous said...

BTW Katrina, this really is elitist vs. the masses. Too bad the Obama's are not for giving all American children a choice in education. We could fix all the problems with one little bill & signature.

-Martha

Katrina L. Lantz said...

Martha, I agree about choices in education. Monopoly is never a good thing.

As far as kids needing to eat healthier, that's a fact that's been around for ages. Unfortunately, fads of health in any age contain falsehoods that lead to damaging dietary elements. For instance, sugar-loaded chocolate was once considered a health food.

What upsets me the most about this act, besides the obvious complete wrongness of the government being involved in food standards for kids, is the fat-free obsession. Any mother who's perused babycenter.com knows babies and young children NEED fat for brain development. You don't feed a baby fat-free or low-fat milk. Once they are old enough for cow's milk, you feed them whole milk. Some people go low-fat after two or three years, but they'd better be supplementing that fat elsewhere in solid foods (avocados, butter, cheese, oils, etc.). It's vital to development.

Alzheimer's patients are responding very well to high daily doses (7 Tablespoons) of coconut oil in the diet. Fat, particularly saturated fat like that found in coconut oil, is crucial to healthy brain cell growth and neurons firing.

This is another example of why the government should NOT be involved in setting standards in food, medicine, or academia. The whims, the fads, the styles of the decade are so often completely off the mark.

Anonymous said...

Today my kids are taking homemade italian soup (left over from last night), whole wheat french bread (again, homemade and left over), 2 homemade Oatmeal zucchini raisin cookies and a bottle of water. They have a microwave in the lunch room which is a wonderful idea. I work part time at a special needs school. I ate lunch with the kids yesterday. Those that brought their lunches brought cookies, crackers, fruit snacks, sodas and other junk foods. In light of the behavior issues we have, I wondered if the parents just 'give up' and give the kids what they wanted, instead of what they needed for lunch. That said, the Obama gals eat better at school than we do at any 5 star restaurant, let alone our lunch room (which served chicken pot pies, rolls and grapes yesterday.)
Ellie.

Anonymous said...

Katrina, I agree with you about the low fat nonsense! I was going to say something about it. You are correct! The current obsession with low fat foods is very unhealthy. Especially for children. And you're right, the government should not be setting nutritional guidelines.

We use olive oil, coconut oil, cream and butter in our house. Lots of avacados, too. The problem is when you combine high fat foods with simply carbohydrates. Bad carbs are the problem, not fats, IMO.

Ellie, that sounds delish! BTW, when my special daughter was born is when I opened my eyes to a lot of things, but one was the importance of nutrition. It's sad that the kids whose hurt bodies need to have the BEST nutrition are getting the worst food available.

-Martha

-Martha

Anonymous said...

My girls always take their own lunches now. In the past, they would occasionally buy a lunch, but now they do not want almost anything served, and they often express disappointment that some of the foods they liked like yogurt are no longer available. Gov't should not be responsible for kids lunches. I agree that fads heavily influence the decisions and thinking of the gov't decision makers, and they simply cannot take into account all needs. I agree that choosing low fat foods for children is wrong. Our brains are made of cholesterol, and we should not discount that fact.

I also realize that some of these kids eat A LOT of food. My 22 year old son still eats like a horse. He is 6 foot with an 8 pack. He ate a lot in high school, too, but he needed it. Some of these kids eat a great deal but have such high metabolisms or exercise so much that they need more food than allotted in this program. Really not a good idea.

AZ

harry said...

There’s some clear discrimination between nobility and common man’s food items; This case scenario is valid in every country. We not only get discrimination in food items but also in internet connectivity. You can have an idea about the internet speed in our society from the fact that I was hiring someone to write my essay for me cheap and in the middle of it; I lost my connectivity.

harry said...

A prominent difference can be seen among the lifestyle of nobility and common man around the world. Sometimes it’s okay if you are getting discriminated against for food, lifestyle, etc but it gets ugly when you are discriminated against in your studies as well. For instance; if the nobility is being provided with the Best Assignment Writing Service UK and the common man isn’t, then things get serious.

Alice said...

Your emphasis on the role of lunchtime as a time for building relationships among students and teachers is a powerful reminder of the impact of small things. Best Dissertation Help also emphasize the importance of nobility.