Three cheers for the honors program at Santa Monica High! I worked with two groups these past few weeks. AP english did their final project on food justice and accessibility, and the AP chemistry kids created garden curriculum from poetry through Latin – geniuses, I say! Here are a few pix of the amazing students in action – they rocked the house! Seeds for a clean, just food system in their future have been planted.
They presented access and options.
They created a facebook page and a twitter account – like them please! Students for healthy eating…
They did surveys of kids and parents to see who really understands healthy eating.
They interviewed farmers and friends at the Local farmer’s market.
They made pamphlets for three different target groups to improve eating habits and raise awareness.
Way to go rising Seniors. I look forward to working with you again next year during your food and justice section of AP English.
Have an outstanding summer and keep up the good fight – it’s a delicious revolution, and you are now revolutionaries! Welcome to the fold.
I want everyone who helped these past few months to take a minute and praise themselves, we did it! While we are less than done, please take a minute and pat yourself on the back, it wouldn’t have happened without your support and appreciation.
The press started back in April with this LA Parent Article and it just kept growing and growing.
Here are a few links to the coverage we received over the past week with the flavored milk kabash.
It continued with the LA Times. June 4th, 2011 – with a big “maybe” and me whining over the fat kids. (note to self: watch my mouth)
Then the LA Weekly had a 6 page story and I was talking trash all over the place. I owe Deputy Dave a big apology.
It was on the blog too, the day the board voted. I love that Gendy included pictures of our jugs of love from our Valentines day Sugar free milk rally. (And just a little shout out to those naysayers who thought we were wasting our energy – I have a raspberry for you on the tip of my tongue)
Let’s not forget the national news… (I think Dianne recorded this off her TV, if you have a better link please LMK and I will replace)
So what’s next my people? I have a few ideas, but I’d love to hear your thoughts so we can put them to action!
How about WATER WATER WATER!! EVERYWHERE!!
And this quote is running through my head… every day.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” MM
Yup, that was me. Mouthing off about protecting the fat kids in the LA Times this past Sunday. Then yesterday, we had a meeting with my buddies in food service, the DB Duo and Rick Boull’t, the interim COO for Dr. Deasy.
Turns out, this wellness thing holds great importance for Dr. Deasy. Mr. Boull’t said they have already had several conversations about wellness. I asked what else they’ve talked about and he said budget cuts and lay-offs. So if I use that as a measuring stick, I got to believe he speaks the truth. I can’t imagine being the man behind the LAUSD daily operations riddled with the diminishing budget and overwhelming size of it all. I am grateful to have someone who understands that food effects performance, that healthy habits must start in the formative years – money or no money, they need more fresh food.
So, things are looking up! The new menus roll out in October 2011, we’ll see how they go!
I stand by my absolutely un-recieved idea of cold foods in the canteen starting at 8 a.m. wrapping breakfast and lunch all in one and letting the children decide when to eat with plenty of time and healthy foods. (every time I bring this up the room glazes over)
And I tell you this is only the beginning – I got ideas! I got good strong lungs and I am the radical optimist that hangs onto hope no matter what!
It was a good feeling to be on the 28th floor yesterday surrounded by 11 other dedicated food advocates from students, parents, professionals and the organizing team at The Food Revolution. I felt like we brought some power to our pleas, and it’s almost a year since this little Food for Lunch thing got started.
We’ve come a LONG way! and we’ve had some victories. We CAN do better.
Time is on our side.
Happy day. We paved the way, there is no doubt in my mind. We’re not done yet, but this is a huge step in teh right direction. I am walking on sunshine today!
Follow the link here to the LA Times blog with the happy making news for our kids.
Seeing as a large part of my day I look for ways to change the LAUSD Food system, I spend a bit of time sleuthing around the interwebs looking for support.
Case in point – Our kids need access to drinking water – come on 28th floor – DO SOMETHING!! All you need to do is read this article and apply it to any school, USA. So easy to change, So hard to make a move.
Hey Jamie!
I hear your going to tour Central Kitchen – Way to go! I have a few things I learned over the past several months I’d like to share. I’m hoping you might help clarify a few loose ends that turned up over the course of interminable meetings through out the past year on the 28th floor, and my fair share of kitchen tours.
For starters – how about they fire up that bank of walk in ovens that are currently being used as storage? 
A made from scratch low sugar high fiber breakfast bars or a little apple crisp might be a nice addition to the current high sugar breakfast offerings or that chocolate whey cup they refuse to identify as dessert.
And then there’s all that unused equipment they use to process whole fruits.
Can you get them to crank it up and distribute some fresh fruit cup to the kids?
In the freezer, they have racks going all the way to the ceiling housing the abundance of Tyson products they love. So there must be a fork-lift on the premises.
Yet, in the refrigerator, there is only one level of racks. They say they need more refrigerator space, but they should start with re-structuring the walk in to hold more fresh whole foods. Add some vertical racks and triple the existing space.
I sat in on a menu direction meeting in January when Dennis Barrett said their goal was a salad bar in every school. GREAT GOAL!! There’s a nice list of available items for order on my site here that could easily implement a salad bar or salad bar type item in every school, at every lunch. But it turns out, the caf directors don’t really want to do them because, well, that’d be too much work. Could we please educate the staff on current food science findings and up the empathy a bit?
As a side note, I think they banned cheese (except on that pizza) – I guess they were putting it on everything. As a result, there is no cheese, not even a piece of low fat string cheese to be had.
What’s with all the plastic? Last time I checked, there was plenty of fruit in it’s own wrapper. Could we revert to the olden days and teach our kids how to peel an orange instead of promoting bags of food?
Which brings me to family style service. If they insist on trying to maintain this unsustainable hot lunch concept, maybe it’s time to admit to everyone in the district that this system is broken and it’s time to try something new. Which is really something old – an old school buffet line. Or we could go right to the cold canteen idea which I personally believe will save the program from it’s inevitable and impending collapse.
Then there’s the food. Could we please offer simpler less processed selections? Could we start with the primary schools as not to cause uprising in the middle and high school students who have grown accustomed to the highly processed and denatured foods currently offered? Could we start change in ONE school? And get current with food science findings and stop promoting diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome?
And let’s have a minute with the LAUSD board of directors. Have them look at their own bellies. Out of the bunch, I’d say there’s maybe 2 or 3 that understand what healthy looks like. I say this with love and full awareness of my own belly fat.
So buddy, good luck! Stay strong, and have a great viewing of central kitchen. When the show is over, and you go back across the pond, I’ll still be here, holding the torch, looking to make changes for the kids. Blaze that trail for me, will ya’ please?
With love, respect and great hope for the health of our amazing children,
Jennie Cook
Organized sports were a huge active learning experience for all three of my kids (now adults and still loving a good game) . Here’s a wonderful video about the first football club of Thailand started by a team of little boys. I dare you to NOT get a little misty when you watch this inspiring story.
Never doubt your ability to make a difference. INSPIRE!
Um, yes. Moderation is key. Please take a minute to read this article in the New York Times 4.13.11. There is also a video called “The Bitter Truth” produced over 2 years ago. It’s a little long but worth listening to while you’re making a delicious dinner of whole foods for your family. As it turns out, previous findings were ignored and buried by other reports that were not produced by the proper report producing standards. Or something like that. The point is, we know this. Now share it with those who need to be enlightened.
Continue to spread the word about what you know to be true, and do it with love. No one likes an eco – banger. So get off your soap box, memorize two or three facts and try not to eat so many cookies, and I’ll do the same.
It’s not too late… you have till midnight I assume. I was kind, but imploring.
here it is…
Julie Brewer
Chief, Policy and Program Development Branch, Child Nutrition Division
Food and Nutrition Service, Department of Agriculture
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 640
Alexandria, Virginia 22302–1594
Re: Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs
Dear Ms. Brewer:
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the FNS proposed rule for nutrition standards for our children, the future leaders of America.
As a dedicated food advocate, I’ve had the opportunity to learn every thing I can about the LAUSD school food system over the past 9 months. As an entrepreneur in the food business since the seventies, I appreciate the difficult job food services is currently doing, and applaud their efforts to keep the system running. Unfortunately, the system is broken and in desperate need of change.
I understand that change is difficult especially in such a large district. But we are in crisis here. When we raise our kids on processed foods, the backbone of the school lunch program, we germinate a lifetime of poor eating habits that is proven to develop diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome. While the media would have us believe that a lap band will cure our ills, and the pharmaceutical companies can give us a pill, I believe there is a better way. I’m sure you would agree.
Let’s start with water. In LAUSD, the kids have limited access to drinking water. This is very disturbing. Without an option, kids are directed toward flavored milk when their bodies need hydration, not a sugary beverage. Please make filtered tap water available to all the kids in the lunch line. An antiquated water fountain in an overcrowded school isn’t adequate. I doubt that Los Angeles is the only place where access to water is limited.
Please put a cap on the overall sugar content of every meal and start with flavored milks. For instance, If an 8 year old child pours chocolate milk on their frosted flakes and finishes up with some coffee cake, they have consumed nothing BUT sugar, and then they head into the classroom. This is so unhealthy. Our nation is struggling against metabolic syndrome, diabetes and obesity – all sugar related diseases. Consumption also triggers the phenomenon known as craving for processed foods and poor eating habits and food addictions are sure to develop. While this is great for the processed food producers, it really sucks for the child. They deserve better.
Apply the 1 cup limit on starchy vegetables to white potatoes only. I have to tell you, when I heard this new rule in a meeting at LAUSD, I laughed out loud. Potatoes are not the problem, the processing and frying is the problem. Kids love peas and corn and beans, lets give them those simple nutritious vegetables whenever we can!
Reduce the serving size, and increase the quantities of fresh, whole fruits and vegetables. More salad bars please. If our kids continue to exist on a diet of de-natured foods, their future will indeed involve the epidemics we’re fighting against.
Provide adequate training for the cafeteria staff, especially when it comes to offer VS serve. It’s confusing and widely misunderstood.
The system, as it is right now in Los Angeles, is unsustainable. It will end unless things change. As crazy as it may sound, I would like the USDA to consider ending the entire hot lunch program, and instead implement a cold lunch program. I’m envisioning a canteen of sorts, of simple whole foods that can be procured by the students at anytime during the beginning of the day and held by them to eat as needed. The choices need to be simplified. the portion sizes need to be reduced.
What they need to learn is the fuel through food to keep them energized, fiber to keep them sated and adequate hydration. This will keep them healthy and enable their little brains to work at their top capacity. We need to start a new sustainable system beginning with the elementary schools and do it gradually.
LAUSD spends 77 cents on a meal. I would be encouraged to see a menu of cold lunch unprocessed food for that price.
It’s time for big change. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to be heard,
With great respect, Jennie Cook
Please visit her website and watch her TED TALK for facts about our food system that will make your blood boil. Her book, “The Unhealthy Truth” looks like a worthy read, judging from the TED talk. There is one thing that helps our cause – FACTS. Gather as many as you can and keep them in your arsenal for our non- oppositional food revolution!
My writer friend Jenn Garbee was dying to know what REALLY happened in VA after Jamie left. There’s been lots of trash talk, especially from those who never wanted his help insighting change in the LAUSD (you know who you are).
THAT’S RIGHT, CHANGE IS DIFFICULT. WE CAN TAKE IT.
Things started in VA when Jamie left. He planted the seed of change and the knowledge of nutrition.
Once we identify the problem we can change the behavior.
I would like to identify the following fact: the idea of a nutritious 77 cent prepared HOT meal for our kids is ridiculous. Let’s change that behavior.
In summary:
“The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends limiting the amount of added sugars you consume to no more than half of your daily discretionary calories allowance. For most American women, that’s no more than 100 calories per day, or about 6 teaspoons of sugar. For men, it’s 150 calories per day, or about 9 teaspoons. The AHA recommendations focus on all added sugars, without singling out any particular types such as high-fructose corn syrup. For more detailed information and guidance on sugar intake limits, see the scientific statement in the August 2009 issue of Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association.”
They don’t have specific guidelines for kids, but we can approximate them using the guidelines based on caloric intake.
This just in form our friend Ariana at the California Food Policy Advocates.
New Direction for School Meals
USDA is considering major changes to school meals and is accepting comments from the public, including you, regarding these changes. For a summary of these changes and to learn how to submit your comment please download our flyer. CFPA urges USDA to adopt these new nutrition standards. You, too, can have a say. Tell the federal government which of the changes to school meals will benefit you and your community the most. You have until April 13th to submit your comment.
Stay tuned for CFPA’s own comments which will be made public very soon. For more information, please contact Ariana Oliva at ariana@cfpa.net or 213-482-8200. You may also want to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity webinar, Weighing In On School Meals: USDA School Meal Regulations on March 24, 2011 to learn more about these changes to school meals and about schools who have already begun to make food environment changes. Register for this webinar.
I have flyers in English and Spanish. Please e-mail me at jennie@jenniecooks.com if you ‘d like the files. (sorry I couldn’t upload them here)
I met some nice folks after spending a chunk of my valuable time on the 28th floor on a weekly basis since July 2010. As predicted by Matt Sharp of the California Food Policy Advocates – we were given great encouragement, but in the end, breakfast on a stick somehow made it back on the menu, as well as juice and much of the other processed and sugary crap we were fighting to remove. (If I had emoticons in my pile of arsenal, I’d make a little cry baby face here.) The meetings have been discontinued. They no longer want our feedback and ideas, they will be moving forward doing all the same things they have done for years. Promoting diabetes and obesity. (insert another cry baby face here)
Perhaps it’s time to re – position? We’ve got lots of support from the Food Revolution. Renew LA is looking for input on the new USDA guidelines. Parents everywhere are feeling the need to speak up and protect the kids. Not to mention all the dedicated educators, grassroots groups and folks like me who just can’t take it anymore.
Please take a minute and go to the renew LA site and leave a comment on the new guidelines – THAT MENTION NOTHING ABOUT OVERALL SUGAR CONTENT IN THE MEALS. The USDA commissioned the Institute of Medicine to come up with the new guidelines (That suggest you can no longer serve a potato and a fruit at the same meal – insert crazy face emoticon here) and the thing that has the manufacturers panties in a bunch is the recommended reduction in salt. Forgive me, I know I can be mouthy, but seriously IOM??? This is the best you can do for our kids? Who’s got you in their pocket HUH??
Anyway, go here, and let them have it, will you?
We got a nice write up in the L.A. Times.
- Jamie Oliver Dropped by the Sugar Rally
We made thoughtful Valentines for Food Services to be presented at the monthly Cafeteria Improvement Committee Meeting – the second Monday of the month. First, they moved the meeting to the second floor. They knew we were bringing guests to the meeting. At David Binkle’s request, we were exhibiting parent support for removing the flavored milks, at least for breakfast to start with.
Why? Because, if a child has flavored milk everyday at breakfast and lunch, they consume 14 cups of sugar, 2 cups shy of a gallon. 
YIKES! What an easy fix to remove the flavored milk! BUT WAIT… THEY CANCELED THE MEETING! Unbelievable really. We couldn’t get anyone from the 28th floor to even come down and say hello. Honestly, I think they like things just as they are and have no intention of committing to real change.
So let’s get together, gather like minded parents and administrators and ask for change in the cafeteria. There are vegetables available.
There was also a nice mention of the rally on the Eastsider and in the LA Moms Blog. Thanks for the Props Everyone – we’re not done yet!
Yes it does. Please read Emily Ventura’s piece in the L.A. Times and take action. Look up your board member and call them, send a letter, make contact and tell them the food has got to change! Less sugar, more plant based proteins and more California fruits and vegetables in any combination would be an improvement.
What a great idea! Cut the chocolate milk. give the kids a chance to develop healthy habits… I like it! See the full article here.
Also, we should all know the article also mentions that the SNA ( School Nutrition Administration) is partially funded by the Dairy Council:
“Likewise, the School Nutrition Association, which is partially funded by the dairy industry, and where dairy interests have a seat on an “industry advisory committee,” also
continues to promote flavored milk in schools despite its sugar content.”
Sugar Content of LAUSD Meals
What you can do to make school food healthier
Sugary School Breakfasts LAUSD school breakfasts contain up to 51 grams of added sugar (13 teaspoons), roughly the amount in a can of soda, and 79g of total sugar (20 teaspoons) This exceeds the daily limit recommended by the World Health Organization for consumption of added sugar. One single school breakfast may contain sweetened cereal, chocolate milk, coffee cake and orange juice
Consequences of added sugar Research from the USC Childhood Obesity Research Center has recently shown that a high sugar diet is a major factor leading to overweight and type-2 diabetes risk factors in Latino children in LA. One in 3 children born after the year 2000 are projected to have diabetes, but in Latinos (72% of LAUSD students) this risk increases to 1 in 2 children.
Say no to chocolate milk By consuming chocolate milk each day at breakfast and lunch, students consume 14 cups (nearly a gallon) of sugar per school year. District officials agree that chocolate milk is not ideal, but fear that kids won!t participate in school lunch if it is not offered. Now is the time for parents and community members to show their support for removing chocolate milk and other sources of added sugar.
What you can do Attend the Menu Committee meetings held every Wednesday morning from 9:30-11:00am at the district headquarters (333 S. Beaudry, 28th floor). Translation in Spanish is available. Send a letter of support to the LAUSD superintendent, food services, your school board representative and governor.
For more details regarding a coordinated drop-off event, please e- mail: gallonofsugar@gmail.com
I missed this on the agenda in December. Tyson is in. Local chicken… not an option. Sorry folks, I was busy working and didn’t comb over the agenda carefully enough. They were very happy on the 28th floor to have Tyson back in their pocket. Alas, It’s not over, not yet. Not until we kill the chocolate milk.
“Board of Education Report No. 103 – 10/11 Procurement Services Division (Procurement Actions) Recommends approval of all procurement actions above the State Competitive bid limit ($78,500) in accordance with applicable Education Code. The expenditure actions include 16 professional service agreements for evaluation services, professional development, translation, and interpretation services, special education services for charter schools, instructional coaching services for a total of approximately 13,552,000; one agreement amendment for benefits consulting increasing the contract amount to $723,155; and 6 purchasing agreements for cooking oil, bond paper, flags and accessories, and chicken processing totaling approximately $102 million. This report also includes ratification items for 363 Book Purchase Orders totaling $1,889,298. “
This is a poor copy of an order sheet that all cafeteria chefs have access to in LAUSD. If you click on it, it clears up a little, but still not a great quality ( it’s a copy of a copy) I will try to get the original from Mr. Binkle. Basically, it’s a salad bar order sheet.
The bottom line is – all schools have access to this list, but if they don’t know the demand for fresh food is there, why should they order it, especially if they view it as only for salad bars and they don’t have one? Remember creativity in the kitchen??
We must create demand. School by school, Chef by chef. Teachers, administrators, other parents. We need to educate the unknowing.
Everyone needs to know that WE CAN get these foods if we ASK.
SPEAK UP MY PEOPLE!
It was quite the week for Food for Lunch fans. At the monthly CIC (Cafeteria Improvement Committee) meeting, David Binkle announced the changes in procurement that’ll allow purchasing local foods from smaller companies. How, you ask? Well, it’s going to be tricky. There’s a crazy vetting process but it ends in a 5 year commitment from food services that translates to millions of dollars to the little guys. If you know of small producers, family farmers or organic conglomerates – please send them to this link and tell them we need them big time. There was a meeting to announce this to the BIG BOYS on Thursday. Chef Eric brought Tutti Frutti Farms from lompoc, and L.A. Specialty to the meeting. Picture it - earthly chefs and growers on the 28th floor with the Suits… If you have the opportunity, Chef E tells a colorful story about the meeting. On the downside, they want all applications in by February 8th.
Even with that tight timeline, there was hope on the 28th floor for the first time since July. I was on my best behavior and didn’t bring up the candy bar milk, and pointed that out to Dennis and David and they appreciated my restraint.
I did however bring a special guest – Emily Ventura, who co-authored this USC research report on diabetes and obesity in Latin youth. Emily is just back from Bologna, Italy where she’s been studying, Her blog says it all.
I met Emily when we both put on Eat-Ins for Slow Food in 2009. She’s been following Food for Lunch from Italy and couldn’t wait to jump in. She spoke up at the end of the meeting ( YAY for speaking up!) distributed her findings and also a few lunch menus from Italian schools. She was well received and Homa the nutritionist got in touch. Homa is looking for strategies to reduce the overall sugar content in the lunches as Emily suggested…
At the end of the meeting David asked me to join him on Wednesday to sit in with the Eco Literacy folks from up north when they are here for a review… umm, okay, sure David! The highlight of the meeting was at the Middle school lunch. We met with awesome Chef Andrea. We walk into the kitchen and THEY ARE MAKING APPLE CRISP. REALLY MAKING IT. Now granted, the apples were either frozen or canned, but the beautiful thing here was the process. The other news flash… they feed 1000 kids in 2 lunch periods and every one gets to eat. Chef Andrea takes great pride in her job, and teaches cooking classes in an after school program for LAUSD. She created a program based on food heroes and food bullies - and it’s working – she’s making a difference.
THEN – Our food friend Jamie Oliver launched the Food Revolution in Westwood (he has his reasons). There was a flash mob at his kitchen on Thursday that went really well ( over 1,000 supporters showed up). On Friday morning he invited a few of us down to a Middle School in Southgate to promote the show, try to gain entry and spread the word about the delicious revolution. Kind of a stunt – but the team feels good about getting out there and spreading the word.
Need a little inspiration?
” Shouldn’t the children of the country that’s the wealthiest, have the children that are the healthiest?
Here is an excellent video to ignite the passion for better food and nutrition education for our kids.
Happy New Year!
Let’s make 2011 the year of fruit and water for everyone.
Fruit served in it’s own packaging.
- Apples
Drinking water from the tap readily available for the kids.
- Tap Water Works
We can make a difference!
- Cook it eat it love it!
Thank you everyone for your support, encouragement and showing up at the meetings on the 28th floor. A special shout out to Lisa Fontanesi for being a regular participant at the menu direction meetings every Tuesday and Wednesday. (feel free to show your love with a donation to her Kickstarter Project for Kidding around the Kitchen.)
Let’s get together in the new year and keep on fighting the good fight. We must do it for the kids. Let’s not let them down, let’s keep them healthy!
Here they are - they have been approved and now LAUSD must find the vendors. This is the first draft, there were a few more changes on the final draft. If they don’t find the vendors, the menus will revert to the previous menus. Chef E talked to Mr Binkle and let him know he knows vendors, and I know Kathy Arnos also supplied a list of vendors to Mr Binkle as well.
The California Food Policy Advocates have seen this happen before. All looks well and good and ready for change and then the size of the school district takes over and the sourcing isn’t available and suddenly the menus are all pizza and burgers. Have you heard about pink slime? GROSS!! There are many new flavors and offerings, but if you ask me..these are not the best choices to start change – but hey! It’s a start.
The menus are still meat- centric and although the flavors are varied, there are a few things missing. It seems the brown rice and beans would be an obvious whole food addition and MORE FRUIT!! I stand by my original question; ” if the USDA suggests 5 to 7 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables a day, and 1/2 the kids on the meal plan use the lunch program for most of their caloric intake, shouldn’t we be offering them 3 to 5 servings of fruit and vegetables with every meal?”
Meatless Mondays was shot down and that was the end of discussion on alternative entrees (although I recommended a vegan tamale and I think that was accepted in the final menus)
Elementary Breakfast – proposed menus. Let’s not get into the coffee cake issue. It’s here to stay.
- elementary breakfast menu
Elementary lunch: Proposed menu – Do we really think vegetable curry, quinoa and pad thai shipped in from a BIG AG producer is gonna go over well with the youngsters? I don’t think so… Notice the water water water on the lunch menus, let’s hold them to it.
- Elementary Lunch Menus
Secondary Breakfast Menus – Proposed
WATER WATER WATER – YEAH YEAH YAY!
Secondary Lunch - proposed menus
- Secondary Lunch
Again, what about simplifying? We know better now. We’re not trying to fatten up the troops here, we’re trying to stall the obesity and diabetes epidemics. Whole fruit. Whole grain bread ( not brown colored white bread) low fat string cheese… let’s shift the paradigm to simplicity, availability, seasonality and local sources.
Oh yeah, KILL THE CHOCOLATE AND STRAWBERRY MILK!!
adding another angle or two to insight change (and a west side meet-up).
What’s the plan:
1. Continue to attend meetings and make friends on the 28th floor at 333 Beaudry.
2. Identify like minded parents and staff at your school. Build community concern.
3. Make friends with your cafeteria director. Tell the they are doing a great job.Look them in the eye, shake their hands. THANK THEM ~ PRAISE THEM… and find out how THEY feel about the food the kids are offered.
4. Try to get the “salad bar items” in your school! There’s an order list with all kinds of raw fruits and vegetables available – let’s take advantage of this and get these whole foods to our kids.
5. Keep talking about how the candy bar milk HAS GOT TO GO!!
(Compton School disctrict recently stopped serving flavored milk – way to go!)
6. Ask the experts at FOOD FOR LUNCH to come speak to your parent body. (would you like to be a member of this team? LMK – drop me a line)
7. West side meet up in January to be announced in the next 2 weeks.
8. INSERT YOUR GREAT IDEA HERE AND KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING.
Hello, Food for Lunchers! We are still waiting to hear on whether the Tyson food contract will be on the November LAUSD board meeting agenda. Please stay tuned.
The topics of school lunch and the nationwide obesity epidemic are getting plenty of press these days. Here are some notable links, particularly on the complicated role the USDA plays in how much fat we eat. The New York Times article below illustrates how complex the roles of regulatory agencies can be when it comes to what Americans eat: While Warning About Fat, US Pushes Cheese Sales, NY Times. Further discussion continues here.
Many of you have heard the news that Jaime Oliver’s next season is slated to be filmed in LA. LAUSD recently turned down Mr. Oliver’s offer to participate; read the LA Times article here, with commentary provided by Food For Lunch’s own Megan Hanson, of RootDownLA.
There are 4 ” Menu Direction” Meetings in the next two weeks. If we can get support from the Board, we’d be doing a huge favor for food services, who really want to help us make these changes. We need the support from the board to keep the momentum going.
IT TAKES AS FEW AS 10 UNEXPECTED CALLS TO SWAY A BUREAUCRATS VOTE.
Call today! Tell your friends and other parents!
Tell them you want whole foods, more legumes and less processed foods in the caf.
Here is the link to the
District Map for all the Board members.
Identify your board member and let them know where you’re from and who you are. (If you need help, go to the principal’s office and ask - “who is my board member?”. And while you’re there, tell them you support healthier foods, more plant based proteins and whole foods in the lunch room.
Below is the list of contact information for all 7 districts.
Remember to thank the nice person who answers the phone for being an agent of change, and to make sure that the board member gets the message.
District 1. Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte Board Member marguerite.lamotte@lausd.net 213-241-6382
Fax: 213-241-8441
District 2. Mónica García Board President, monica.garcia@lausd.net 213-241-6180
Fax: 213-241-845
District 3. Tamar Galatzan Board Member tamar.galatzan@lausd.net 213-241-6386
Fax: 213-241-8979
District 4. Steve Zimmer – Mr. Zimmer’s bio is in pdf. visit the site to see more. He is a strong supporter of healthy school food. Board Member steve.zimmer@lausd.net 213-241-6387
Fax: 213-241-8453
District 5. Yolie Flores Board Member yolie.flores@lausd.net 213-241-6383
Fax: 213-241-8467
District 6. Nury Martinez Board Member – and big supporter of healthy lunches.
Board District 6 nury.martinez@lausd.net 213-241-6388
Fax: 213-241-8451
District 7. Dr. Richard Vladovic Board District 7 richard.vladovic@lausd.net 213-241-6385
Fax: 213-241-8452
Food for Lunch fliers are available for download in English and en Español.
There is now nationwide awareness of the growing problem of obesity in our country, how it is related to eating habits, and particularly, the importance of eating a healthy lunch at school. Our numbers are many, and healthier school lunches are coming!
LAUSD food services directors are making strides toward improving the LAUSD lunch menu in their Cafeteria Improvement Committee. A number of movers and shakers in the farmers market / organic / locally-sourced food scene are on this committee and the news is good about the work being done on the 2011-2012 menu. FFL friend Ernest Miller of SEE-LA and the Farmer’s Kitchen at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market had this to say about the most recent meeting on his blog, http://preservenation.blogspot.com/
The Tyson – LAUSD contract discussion has still not happened in the LAUSD School Board arena; we are awaiting news of it becoming an agenda item in the coming months, hopefully in November. Stay tuned for updates!
In the meantime, what can we all do to keep the push on towards healthier school lunches?
We can advocate for change across LAUSD. Write a letter or email to the LAUSD board members, and advocate for:
- More money be alloted to actual food and food preparation. Did you know that for each lunch, LAUSD Food Services has 77 cents available to spend on actual food? Renegade Lunch Lady Chef Ann has remarked that it takes at least $1.25 to fund a healthy, freshly prepared lunch.
- More time to eat lunch. Many schools have very little time allotted to eating lunch, sometimes 1/2 hour or less! No wonder are kids are “eating on the run,” a proven link to overweight and obesity. Eating well needs time. Where does the extra time come from? We know that the school day is jam-packed, and that time is at a premium, but lunch is important and it deserves a significant place in the school day.
- Bring the kitchens back to the schools! Most kids who eat school lunch eat a processed, reheated lunch that was trucked in that day from a central warehouse. Foods need to be heavily processed with preservatives, stabilizers, and other muckety-muck to remain palatable through this process. Advocate for on-site food preparation, to ensure healthier, less processed food options for students.
You can advocate for change at your individual school:
- Get involved with local groups working for school lunch change. The Healthy School Food Coalition in the Urban Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College helped write legislation to get soda and junk food vending machines out of LAUSD schools.
- Sign up for a Farm to Schools partnership: http://www.cafarmtoschool.org/ According to their website: ”[Farm to School] programs connect schools with local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing health and nutrition education opportunities that will last a lifetime, and supporting California’s farmers.”
- Apply for a salad bar for your school! http://saladbarproject.org/
- Partner with a local chef to teach cooking classes and food awareness to students. Chefs like Lisa Fontanesi of Kidding Around the Kitchen teaches at Glenfeliz Elementary, and Meg Taylor of Large Marge Sustainables teaches a class in “Easy and Rewarding Methods of Resilience: simple eating, cooking, how to barter, fun and food!” at Thomas Starr King Middle School in Silver Lake. First Lady Michelle Obama has recently advocated for more chef and school partnerships in her campaign targeting childhood obesity.
- Start a garden at your school! LAUSD has created a website to help you to do just that: http://mo.laschools.org/green-spaces/
Keep up with the latest healthy school lunch movements! Read about how they’re using creativity and psychology to keep kids eating well here, at Cornell University http://SmarterLunchrooms.org the USDA http://tinyurl.com/32u6jrz and the National Institute of Medicine: http://tinyurl.com/yak3x5d.
Make frequent visits to The Lunchbox.org, an outstanding resource and has fashioned itself as a “toolkit” for parents, educators and administrators to use to help revamp the school cafeteria.
Keep yourself apprised of the always sobering statistics of childhood obesity: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/index.html
Always a good site to visit and re-visit: The Center for Ecoliteracy and their toolkit for rethinking school lunch.
Please scroll down for more useful links.
…and stay in touch!
-FFL
There is a new bill that seeks to provide students with free water to drink at lunch. With children drinking hundreds of calories per day in the form of juice, sports drinks, and soda, this will be a welcome change to the lunch room. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water-schools-20100920,0,7513655.story
Check out some of these selected links to see what else is going on in the world of school lunch advocacy:
Childhood Obesity Overview by the National PTA
In Los Angeles, RootDown LA is a program that confronts obesity and related health issues in South Central Los Angeles by engaging youth in the education and skills training necessary to build demand for healthy food. LA Sprouts is a similar program.
In Orange County: Lean and Green Kids aims to educate kids about healthier, environmentally sustainable (green) food choices. They have a newsletter and healthy eating curriculum online. Check them out at www.leanandgreenkids.org
Changes in Washington DC schools: healthy school lunch pilot programs and made from scratch lunch kitchens
Chef Cathal Armstrong, also in Washington DC, and his group Chefs as Parents plan to develop a healthier school lunch model by adopting individual schools
Great American Salad Bar Project with Chef Ann Cooper and Whole Foods
The Lunchbox.org, a toolkit for creating healthy changes at any school, also developed by Ann Cooper with support of Whole Foods
Revolution Foods is a vendor with contract nationwide that many schools are using to supply healthy lunches to their students
This blog is truly fed up! www.fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com Check out their list of links as well:
The Big Players in School Lunch Advocacy
Read an interesting post from a school food vendor on the Fed up with School Lunch Blog.
And post a link that you don’t see here!
Manual Arts Lunch Discussion SUMMARY:
LAUSD Food Services Director David Binkle presented an overview on LAUSD school lunch. A member of our group pointed out that while the school breakfasts provided at LAUSD may be considered “whole grain,” they still delivered more sugar than a child needs to eat in a day. The head chef for LAUSD spoke about the student as customer and food safety was brought up as the number one concern in serving school meals. Many people spoke up about the 74% rule – that so many kids have to like an item before they will put in on the menus. One cooking teacher spoke up and said, “Hey, 100% of my kids like our healthy food!” Other parents asked for more allowances, for food to make it from school gardens into lunchrooms, for permissions to serve students the same foods one culinary program is serving teachers, etc. One woman called LAUSD on their lip service: “it’s great to talk but what are you going to do about it now?” This seemed to be the common plea among many at the meeting. There was also a request to get students there next time. (Unfortunately, Spanish translation was not arranged and there were more than a few angry parents who left. Food for Lunch will advocate for Spanish translators at the next meeting!) Thanks to all who came and spoke out for healthy lunches!!
Thanks to all of you who responded to our call to action for change in LAUSD school lunch! There are many of us in LA who are hungry, shall we say, for massive school lunch change at LAUSD schools. We wanted to send an update to all interested parties regarding our recent activities and plans for the near future.
As we mentioned in our first email, the next LAUSD school board meeting will be held on August 31. Our team has just found out that the Tyson contract renewal and school lunch is NOT on the agenda, leaving our group only a small amount of time to speak at the end of the meeting. We have decided to WAIT on making a big show at the LAUSD board meeting until a later time, most likely in September. We will be sending out an email and posting updates for future meetings and rallies.
Over the past week, our group has met with 5 school board members individually to discuss our concerns about school lunch and to advocate for more healthful school lunches. We found that most board members were very receptive to our ideas, with Nury Martinez in particular voicing very strong support for school lunch change. If you are in her district, send her a <thank you> email at nury.martinez@lausd.net and get involved!
There was a great turnout of parents and teachers for the school lunch discussion held at Manual Arts High School on August 18, hosted by LAUSD Green Policy Director Mud Baron and Food Services Representative Laura Benavidez. Read a summary of that meeting at the bottom of this email.
There are so many of us who care very deeply about this issue, and change is imminent. Our goal at Food for Lunch is to keep LAUSD leadership aware of our demands, to educate ourselves and others about the opportunities available for change, and enlist as many people we can in our efforts. Please continue to forward word of our group to interested parties.
Thanks so much for your support!
On Wednesday, August 18 at 6:30 PM at Manual Arts High School located at 4131 Vermont Avenue next to USC, all interested parties are invited to make their opinions known about LAUSD school food. Mud Baron, school garden guru and LAUSD’s Green Policy Director, will be co-facilitating with Laura Benevidez of LAUSD Food Services. This is the official listening session of the School Food Parent/Student/Teacher/Community Taskforce before the first LAUSD Board meeting of 2010-11 school year. Speakers will have the opportunity to hear & discuss options.
Then, on Tuesday, August 31 at 1:30 PM is the LAUSD school board meeting where school lunch and this halted Tyson contract will be discussed again. WE NEED A BIG SHOW of people to come and let the School Board meeting to let board members know we want them to start making healthier food a reality NOW! (stay tuned - we hear Tyson is on the agenda for September. We are going on the 31st to introduce ourselves, but we’re waiting to ask for support until we’re sure it’s an agenda item)
The meeting is held at the LAUSD School Board offices, located at 333 South Beaudry Ave in downtown Los Angeles, just north of the 110 freeway. Park in the Visconti parking lot on Miramar St. and get free parking for 2 hours!
Sign our online petition! Send a letter to your school board representative with your opinions about school lunch! (Find your board member at http://laschoolboard.org/)
And lastly, spread the word! LAUSD, we want FOOD FOR LUNCH!!
Quite a bit of what we’re after has already been agreed upon. Nothing that we’re espousing is revolutionary. Everyone is agreed that we have a problem with food. We want the agreements and resolutions to be acted upon, and the health of our children to be given priority. Here are some of the documents
Healthy Beverage Resolution, 2002 (Note that this precedes the California Senate Bill 965, which makes this a statewide soda ban.
Obesity Prevention Motion , 2003
In October, 2003, the Los Angeles Unified School District School Board passed the Obesity Prevention Motion. Prior to this LAUSD School Board Junk Food Policy has also prohibited Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value (FMNV) to be sold to students.
Cafeteria Improvement Motion, 2005
California Senate Bill 12, 2005
California Senate Bill 965, 2005
CDE Management Bulletin 06-110, 2006
LAUSD Wellness Policy Blueprint, 2009
2010 report on the history of the transformation of school food at LAUSD
They presented access and options.
