Why are schools serving meat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well... let's see...


You have several fallacies in your argument.

It has been consistently shown hat local farm to table food is MORE expensive than the large mass produced foods./quote]

*I would assume you have some data to support that statement but we both know that the research results can depend on who finances it.
*I hope that in your infinite wisdom you hold true that US is the most horticulturally advanced country in the world with the best technology and resources so farming is way more cost effective here then in Italy, France, Brazil or UK, therefore I beg your explanation why those countries can provide produce for the school needs in the affordable non -subsidised manner. Let me suport this by
the fact that Jammie Oliver proved the very miracle possible in UK.
* As far as the consistency is concerned, if you are using the same methods and resources you surely will get the same results.

You still don't seem to understand economies of scale very well. You realize that the US is roughly the size of the entire subcontinent of Europe. Several of the states within the US are larger than many of the countries in Europe. Your examples are all significantly smaller. The US has a population of 330M. All of those nations are smaller (Italy 60M, UK 66M, France 67M, Brazil 211M). And costs grow exponentially as do issues as you make the system larger. You can make things work on smaller scales that do not work well in larger scales.

You picked a fine example of Jamie Oliver. He ranted and raved like you did about American school food. So in 2010, he set out to meet the challenge. He went to Huntingdon, WV, dubbed the unhealthiest city in America and tried to reform their school food program. Like you he stressed good ingredients and cooking. The problem is that his solution was not feasible within the US and also not successful. He did not meet the current budget of $1.50 per meal that the school district could afford. He afforded it by not charging the school district for the labor. All of the cooks in the show were paid for by ABC. Additionally, he demanded local produce and organic meats. Again, ABC paid for those ingredients. Finally, the results:

https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/school-lunch/

But there was a problem with this made-for-TV narrative—several, actually. Shortly after Oliver left, a study by the West Virginia University Health Research Center reported that 77 percent of students were “very unhappy” with his food. Students who relied on school meals for nearly half of their daily calories routinely dumped their trays in the trash. Some did it because they hated the taste; others because it became the cool thing to do. And while Oliver’s meals used fresh, high-quality ingredients, many turned out to be too high in fat to meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s standards. Within a year, McCoy said, the number of students eating school lunch fell 10 percent, forcing her to cut her budget and lay off several cooks.

It took Rhonda McCoy years to fix the mess that Jamie Oliver had abandoned her with.

The ultimate problem is that school districts are being faced with lower budgets and your proposal is significantly more costly. It's been tried and no one has been able to make the system cost effective yet. And so far, the ideas have been executed on a local level. If they can't get the programs to work on a local level in one city, they aren't going to be able to make such systems cost effective on a nationwide scale in the US.

You should read the full article linked above. It will give you an idea of the complex problems involved in fixing the broken school lunch programs and the cost issues that are associated with it. It is not a simple fix and issues need to be fixed in the system before trying to convert to a different model (like local sourcing and cooking in-house) completely.

[Anonymous]

PP, this is America.
If we want something to work, we make it work even if it does not work
and if we don't want it to work we will make it not to work eve if it works.

[Anonymous]

Vegetarian here, children are also vegetarian; and I most likely have been a veg longer than the OP.

But OMG get over yourself.

My kids since 3 has told their teachers etc that he is a vegetarian. A lot of his friends do the same - vegetarian with school food not everything.

More flies with agave than vinegar my friend.

[Anonymous]

Jammie Oliver is hated by many in the UK fir destroying school lunch. They are frequently protests or boycotts at his places because of this. A tour guide told us that they would not go into any of his places. It is estimated that they in places where he has influenced the menu they serve 1/3 less meals because kids do not want them. Do you give into kids on healthy eating, but there is wholesale revulsion to what he has done in the UK.

[Anonymous]

If parents are feeding kids crap at home, they aren't going to come to school and willingly eat healthy food. And most parents are feeding their kids garbage. Look at what is marketed to children -- gogurts, sugar cereals, juice, snack foods, etc. Every restaurant serves kids' meals that are nothing but mac and cheese, burgers, and chicken fingers. The only way to reform kids' palates is to get all the junk out of their diets, but it will never happen while parents continue to serve junk at home.

[Anonymous]

damn u guys, i was just trying to compete with the meditation thread. i didn't expect this to become self-sustaining

[Anonymous]

I 100% agree with OP even though I am not vegetarian. It's one thing for us to eat at home occasionally and it's another thing for it to be serving all of American schoolchildren every day. Just replace it with vegetarian substitutes.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I think this is a terrible idea.

“Low budget kid friendly vegetarian” is going to equal carbs carbs carbs, sugar sugar sugar

The kids who rely on school lunches need MORE protein, not less. Poor kids aren’t overweight because they eat too much protein. Just saying.

Kids are not going to eat meat substitutes or creative bean entrees and whatnot. They just aren’t.

I’d suggest leaving the entrees in place and fixing the side items to focus on fruit and veg options that actually appeal to kids. Then again, that costs $.

[Anonymous]

Because it's DELISH!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I think this is a terrible idea.

“Low budget kid friendly vegetarian” is going to equal carbs carbs carbs, sugar sugar sugar

The kids who rely on school lunches need MORE protein, not less. Poor kids aren’t overweight because they eat too much protein. Just saying.

Kids are not going to eat meat substitutes or creative bean entrees and whatnot. They just aren’t.

I’d suggest leaving the entrees in place and fixing the side items to focus on fruit and veg options that actually appeal to kids. Then again, that costs $.

Agree with all of this.

[Anonymous]

McDonalds restaurants in EVERY school, credit card with daily budget per kid. Problem solved... look at them glow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My school offers far few menu choices than my DD’s school a mile away. My school is one of the highest farms rate in the district. The cafeteria manager argues that the students won’t eat the healthier options. However, when my students conducted several studies, they found that students ate much less meat at home (lots of rice and beans or rice and peas) and were open to at least trying vegetarian entrees offered at the neighboring school. They wrote up everything and the cafeteria manager still said no.

Then why are so many kids overweight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I think this is a terrible idea.

“Low budget kid friendly vegetarian” is going to equal carbs carbs carbs, sugar sugar sugar

The kids who rely on school lunches need MORE protein, not less. Poor kids aren’t overweight because they eat too much protein. Just saying.

Kids are not going to eat meat substitutes or creative bean entrees and whatnot. They just aren’t.

I’d suggest leaving the entrees in place and fixing the side items to focus on fruit and veg options that actually appeal to kids. Then again, that costs $.

Where do you get this. Kids do eat meat "substitutes" Mine eat the veggie nuggets, veggie balls (though not a lot as I don't encourage it often with the soy/chemicals) and tofu. Mine generally eat tofu 5-6 days a week. And, eat plenty of veggies.

[Anonymous]

Shocking, but the US school lunch is comparable to processed unhealthy food most kids outside of DCUM-land are given at home too. You think middle class America is making their kids arugula and beet salad with goat cheese at home? No.

Americans eat like crap and most parents don’t prepare heathy non-processed meals at home regularly. Why would you expect the school to do a better job at feeding kids than their parents do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shocking, but the US school lunch is comparable to processed unhealthy food most kids outside of DCUM-land are given at home too. You think middle class America is making their kids arugula and beet salad with goat cheese at home? No.

Americans eat like crap and most parents don’t prepare heathy non-processed meals at home regularly. Why would you expect the school to do a better job at feeding kids than their parents do?

You’re quoting my kids’ favorite salad exactly, except for roasted walnuts. 🤣