These are the saddest school lunches we’ve ever seen

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/list/these-are-the-saddest-school-lunches-weve-ever-seen/

For about two months, Fed Up invited students across the country to snap and submit pictures of their school lunch. The campaign gathered 7,025 pictures and had more than 25,000 participants voting for whether the student should eat the lunch or toss it.

The campaign was meant to give young people a little power and encourage them to demand better food. (There were also handy tips!) The idea was to compile data about where the best and worst lunches were being served, too. But, based on a sample of the data, it’s clear that there’s not much difference between food that should go straight to the trash and food that’s worthy of being ingested.

Some of meals that got the most votes we saw for “toss it” were pretty bad:

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“Turkey or dog food?”

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“Pizza from another galaxy”

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This one had a fruit in it, at least.

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Does anyone know how the new Farm Bill will impact school lunches?

Most people are not aware of the connection. This articles gives some explanation.

http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=10694

[BlueMTexpat]

2. This is truly sad.

I wish that the US would be more concerned about seeing what is working around the world, not only with academics, but also with feeding the children that will be our future.

France is an outstanding example for instilling healthy eating habits. http://karenlebillon.com/french-school-lunch-menus/ Of course, food in France generally is exceptional, practically a "national religion" as at least one writer puts it. All one has to do is to visit an outdoor market or even a local supermarket.

Here's an article (from 2005) that describes some school lunch practices around the world. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4298245.stm Some are good, some impractical, some nonexistent. The comments are revealing, e.g., this one, from a Finn.

Here in Finland school lunch is provided free of charge to all students. There is usually no choice (although increasingly these days, there is a vegetarian option). The food is usually relatively healthy and menus are planned with a balanced meal in mind. In most localities, the week's menu for each school appears in the local newspaper - this way parents can check what their children are eating. Also, in my home municipality, the local authority publishes the menu on its internet site as well. For instance, I can see that tomorrow my children will be eating "fish in lemon sauce".
Thomas Eklund, Finland

Others are hilarious! Enjoy!

[Riftaxe]

3. And yet all i got when i forgot my $0.25

was a cheese sandwhich and bread with butter on 2nd's! Hell, those look yummy.

Looks aside, I bet those meals are more nutritious.

Is that chocolate milk in the last picture, we only had that on Fridays!