How do we help kids?

SO, I am truely sorry for last nights post, I am re-locating down to Sausalito for my summer job (this means only cooking in the Lacey Test Kitchen on Friday nights, SaturDAY- when im not @ Plan B and Sunday before I head back) and did not have energy/gumption to hook up to a wi-fi zone and nerd out. So listening to Chef Ann Cooper speak was truly motivating. The link to the much acclaimed lecture before students @ UC Berkeley can be found here. I have already been in schools all this semester- teaching knife skills to children. See the clip of me on the Sacramento News here. I am a huge fan of cooking classes and have been since starting them several years ago. However, I have not set foot in an elementary school since some time in the 1990's. This was a whole different beast altogether.

My job as usual is to inform the little kidd-o's about making better food choices. For many of them this begins with showing them how to handle a sharp knife for the first time. We then have them chop some fresh vegetables and show them how to compile a recipe- (we had them chop carrots and celery then make hummus, for example).

I got to see the dark side of public school nutrition which many do not know exist.

And while I am a fan of our work, the larger question looming eerily overhead to me was "What the hell goes on in these schools, and what could be done to make it stop?" While there is an alarming increase in the incidence of child and teen diet-related health issues - (like diabetes, obesity, stroke and coronary to name a few), the question of "What are we feeding our kids" remains the large unignorable pink elephant in this country. My intention creating this blog is to increase awareness on health and food related issues; I guess I feel most strongly on this issue when it pertains to children. Especially when I saw some of the schools near Saramento deemed the most in need.

And before I beat my horse dead- Everyone ought to listen to the Ann Cooper Lecture!! It will shock you and make you want to take action. [Even though UCB is my rival school, I must commend their commitment to excellence in education.]

The garbage fed to kids in California Public Schools is appauling. What is even more dispicable is the fact that this is subsudized by the Government. For example, Have you ever seen a Smuckers Uncrustable??? -
(from smuckers.com)
Ingredients
BREAD: ENRICHED UNBLEACHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, YEAST, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL AND/OR SOYBEAN OIL, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: WHEAT GLUTEN, SALT, DOUGH CONDITIONERS (MAY CONTAIN ONE OR MORE OF: DIACETYL TARTARIC ESTERS OF MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES (DATEM), MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, ETHOXYLATED MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, CALCIUM PEROXIDE, ASCORBIC ACID, AZODICARBONAMIDE, L-CYSTEINE), YEAST NUTRIENTS (MAY CONTAIN ONE OR MORE OF: MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM SULFATE, AMMONIUM SULFATE), CALCIUM PROPIONATE (MAINTAIN FRESHNESS), CORNSTARCH, ENZYMES (WITH WHEAT). PEANUT BUTTER: SELECT ROASTED PEANUTS, DEXTROSE, VEGETABLE MONOGLYCERIDES (FROM PALM OIL), SALT. STRAWBERRY JAM: STRAWBERRIES, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, PECTIN, CITRIC ACID, POTASSIUM SORBATE ADDED AS A PRESERVATIVE.



They feed this tasty snack to kids in Elk Grove in the morning. On other days they start them off with a carton of crap milk and Cocoa Puffs or some other sugary (more accurately- corn syrup laden) cereal which turns the milk an artifical color. O, wait, I forgot, they then have the Option of an inorganic banana, orange or apple (I sympathize with these kids- I too would pass on this bland unripe fruit sent from south of our border), which many pass on in favor of the sweet uncrustable . And then sometime before they recieive a hot microwaved lunch, I come in and tell them to eat their veggies! Now how do I compete with Corn Syrup, Artificial Flavor & Food Colonge? I cant really. It really sickens me how:

1. The USDA allows this AND pays smuckers back for this shit, pardon me, i cant call this food.


2. They USDA has "nutritionists" overseeing the entirety of the lunch program.


3. A "nutritionist" can applaud us for coming in, then turn a blind eye as a kid eats an uncrustable.


4. Companies like Smuckers are recieving a profit for feeding kids a non-nutritious snack EVERY DAY. Would you pay someone to feed your kid McDonalds all day??? There is no care about the health or long term well-being of our American youth (This REALLY ticks me off).


5. There is no end to this in sight. I almost passed on my summer job to intern in the Elk Grove School District's Nutrition Headquarters (Yep thats right- one massive factory ships the same junk all across the district- they dont even have tools in the kitchens to make a lunch- no ovens just microwaves, box cutters, fat lunch ladies and can openers)- but was talked out of it. Although Chef Cooper re-motivated me.


6. What really got to me was how big of a difference in behavior there was between the kids at the title one schools who had uncrustables and the like vs kids at a "better" school with better food. You cant have a genius for a child and feed him fat and sugar for breakfast- you get a tyrant with a fly's attention span. It was remarkable how much a good breakfast can translate to happier more attentive kids.


7. If these kids eat this all thruout high school, I am guessing that these kids will be part of the first generation of people to die younger than their parents. They will have diet-induced diabetes. They will have abdominal fat, pepsi-arm and kidney stones. This is despicable and preventable.

Thank you Chef Cooper for the enlightenment. We must teach kids nutrition early on, we must teach them what the word organic means and what it means when their food does not say organic on it. They ought to know about Genetically Modified Food. They ought to know haw to farm, and how to eat seasonal. They should know when and how to shop. Even butcher- maybe then will they try other parts of the chicken than the nuggets.

And we need to put questions about food on the SAT- or bring back Home Ec.
Im off the soapbox for the evening. I will be back on it tomorrow.
Till then check out Parents Against Junk Food for more info on Crap in Public School Lunches that ought to go!

Furthermore Susan-
Ask Congress to Put an end to this!