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It was nearly midnight on a bitter January night when a group of Washington's most celebrated chefs assembled around a long table at downtown hotspot Brasserie Beck to debrief one another on their recent White House mission. Enlisted by the first lady's office in her war against childhood obesity, each had eaten lunch at a D.C. public school. The unanimous verdict was fairly predictable: no stars.
Chefs Move to Schools: A nutritious program kids can sink their teeth into
Seeded on Fri Jun 4, 2010 11:33 AM EDT
Article Source: The Washington Post- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (5)
What we are feeding our children is an outrage. We should be marching with picket signs and pitchforks in revolution," said Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve in Alexandria.
So true.
#1 - Fri Jun 4, 2010 11:34 AM EDTI think they are missing the forest for the trees. Why their program can be successful is because highly talented and motivated people are volunteering their services. When that talent loses interest and moves on then it'll be back to the old standard because what else could they do?
The attempt to bridge that by giving huge sums of money to reinvent school cafeterias into restaurants is a mistake. The solution is put the school into school cafeteria. Setup cooking programs trade-school style in local schools and kill two birds with one stone. A talented, motivated, and long term 'volunteer' making good food inexpensively for students. A top chef making millions on TV is not going to be interested for very long, but a high school student interested in a career being a chef can be interested - and replaced with another of them as they move on easily.
#2 - Fri Jun 4, 2010 11:48 AM EDTSomething has to change in the way most of the children are being offered meals at school. Whether that has to be changed or reviewed by top-chefs is questionable indeed. They can be the advisers in the background while the execution of offering more healthy food into the cafeterias can be done by others.
Spend thirty minutes a week teaching the children the dangers of too much fast food in an entertaining way. Educational and fun at the same time for a good cause.
Like most school things it's seriously hampered by the child's home life. If at home their parents eat fast food or frozen dinners that's what the child will prefer when given any choice. I don't think eating or food can be fun for everybody just depends on your interest.
Growing up the net total of my interest in food was speed and calories, the faster I could eat and return to 'productive' things the better and the fewer times I had to eat the better. When I got to college I literally passed out in chem lab because I forgot to eat for several days in a row. I've always found eating tedious even if I like the taste.
I'm dubious about this effort to 'purify' public schools of all 'bad' influences. If you restrict a child's choice to only things they don't know or like what you will get is resentment not education.
I don't think eating or food can be fun for everybody just depends on your interest.
Let's make a comparison to math. The vast majority thinks math is hard and therefore boring. But there is a way to teach math in a more fun way instead the obvious tedious education. Same goes for food, it's not the most important issues while attending school but being creative and challenge children with assignments or involvement sure could spice it up a little.
If you restrict a child's choice to only things they don't know or like what you will get is resentment not education.
Offering various healthy food with the exception of certain days is not restricting choices. It's changing the choices IMO.
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