Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Revolutionizing School Lunch (CYOA)




So we’ve talked a bit about the horrors of our school cafeterias; mobs of kids racing to be in the front of the line, the politics and hierarchy of the lunchroom, cigarettes in the flanMost of us seemed to agree that our lunchroom experiences growing up left a lot to be desired.

I want to share my experience in Philadelphia last fall, working as an intern at the Vetri Foundation – a non-profit organization focused on childhood health and nutrition. In addition to sponsoring many events and programs centered on childhood food education, Philly-born, Italian chef Marc Vetri and his team have developed a revolutionary school lunch program that is currently running in 7 schools in the city. ‘Eatiquette’ (as they so cleverly named it) was designed to provide healthy, from-scratch, family style meals in the cafeteria. It is one of the most innovative strategies I’ve seen in addressing childhood health concerns, promoting healthy eating education, and working to change our institutional food system.

In preparation for our discussion read this article and my 'A Day in the Life'  piece that I wrote while I was in Philly.

In class, I’ll tell you a bit more about my experience and provide details on the inner workings of the Vetri Foundation. And we can have another lively conversation of the politics of school lunch, but in a broader sense, in terms of systemic change.
I’m excited to hear your thoughts.

4 comments:

  1. Katherine,
    This is so great!! My favorite part is the fact that you got to experience this first-hand, I can't wait to hear more about it. I do have to say that as a girl who grew up on packed lunches at public schools where free flowing, unrestricted conversation reigned, I am a little skeptical about the led discussions. While it sounds very positive, I remember craving that time away from classes and teachers when I could just be loud, obnoxious and inappropriate with friends. So I'm curious to hear your take on that.

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  2. Dear Katherine,
    I think this is a really important matter to discuss since kids need to eat well to grow well. I worked in Woodward Elementary school during winter quarter, and for lunch time I heard that students who go to that school don't get full meal. It will be harder to make better food quality in the public school, but gearing toward healthy style of cafeteria lunch is essential for growing children. I love the idea of educating students about healthy way of eating because there are so many junk foods out there and full of unhealthy food, and kids just take these if they don't know these are bad and how these will impact their health. It would be cool children to have habits of eating right from their early ages!

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  3. So often it's the simplest things that create the greatest revolutions. Really looking forward to learning more from you about this, Katherine!

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  4. Katherine,
    This is so cool! The way these lunches are set up remind me of Joel Stalin's farm (is this a stretch? Maybe...). His farm is sustainable and everything works so perfectly together-- this lunch scene makes me think of good food and, more importantly, good food practices. It is not just about food, but how we think about it and interact with it!

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