In the spring of 2011 Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Team named me a school food revolution hero. http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/news-content/chef-tim-cipriano-brings-scratch-cooking
Today I received an email asking for me to submit photos of New Haven school lunch's to show off some of the best school meals in the country and to thank me for my support of this new campaign. BUT, they also want to post photos of the worst school lunch in the country. My response to the email I received is below for all to read:
Good Morning,
I do not like the idea of the “Worst School Lunch”. I think it is a bad idea to berate school nutrition professionals for following the rules. Just because we may not agree that the lunch is good, it most likely meets the USDA requirements for a reimbursesable meal. That translates that the school nutrition professionals are following the rules set forth by the administrators of the program, the USDA. To point out that they are doing something wrong is not the right approach. I would rather see webinars set up as training exercises to educate school nutrition professionals on how to make better choices utilizing USDA Foods and staying within budget. That in my mind is what is most important.
Taking the route of stomping on the same very people who we want to educate is not going to help in the long run. But working together as a team will.
Typically the school itself does not operate its own school meals program but rather operated on a school district level. So not naming the school itself but naming the town will have the same negative effect on school meal programs nationwide. School staff directly may not be the intended target but I know that my workers take their jobs seriously and negative PR hurts us all.
There is no validity in the process either, there could be a picture uploaded to your site stating that a particular meal was served in a New Haven School that could be false. This will now have a negative impact on my program whether or not the picture is accurate.
The idea of a best school lunch vs a worst school lunch is the wrong way to make change and I am 100% against the idea.
You do not have my support with this campaign.
Their response to my email response was:
Hi Tim,
Thank you for your email, I completely understand your point.
However, through this campaign we do not want to criticize school nutrition staff – but rather start a real conversation about school food, get people to visit their schools, try the meals and connect with other parents, lunch staff and nutrition directors.
We completely understand that school lunch is served under constraints including budget, staff, ingredients, and food availability. Yet under the same regulations about school food and sometimes within the same community, some kids are getting amazing school food whilst others are really not.
We don’t just want to find the ‘Worst’ lunch but shine the spotlight on differences there are in school meals, showcase some great meals and also have some fun in comparing school meals from all the over the world – from different cultures, climates and growing seasons.
In no way do we want to be malicious towards schools, or school & nutrition staff nor do we want to suggest they are doing anything wrong. Rather we just to open up conversation on school food all over the world and how important it is to take a part & be involved in what students are eating at school.
I understand completely where you are coming from & I hope I have explained some of our thoughts behind the photo wall in this email.
Many thanks,
I do not agree with their response nor do I agree that this is just a campaign to shine the spotlight on "different" school meals. This is a feeble attempt to portray any school nutrition professional who serves a meal that is not up to the standards of Jamie Oliver in a negative light all to give him more fame and fortune.
Perhaps Jamie means well and truly wants to make a difference but he seems to be going about it in the wrong direction. Pitting school nutrition professionals against one another is not the way to see change happen.
Together Everybody Achieves More = TEAM. Jamie needs to step up to the plate and join the team, not alienate himself from it.
Showing posts with label Jamie Oliver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jamie Oliver. Show all posts
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monday, April 12, 2010
Three Chefs and The White House, Start a "Food Revolution"
The First Lady gave the opening remarks at the summit, saying that “we all need to do our parts as well, because the fact is, that our kids didn’t do this to themselves.” Administration officials attending included Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan. After Mrs. Obama made brief welcoming remarks, Domestic Policy Adviser Melody Barnes took over encouraging a 'walk and talk moment' and said it was time for "all hands on deck," as the task force focuses on its report for the President. Then each administration official spoke briefly. There was a brief Q & A with the audience of participants, and then Barnes dismissed them for breakout sessions.
I participated in the school food discussion that was moderated by Kevin Concannon of the USDA. The participants were tasked with identifying 3 to 5 of the best ideas to present to the writers of the roadmap for the task force. The best 5 ideas included: Using schools for improving nutrition for American children considering food and nutrition environment, increasing nutritional quality of school meals, changing school environment, and infrastructure of schools that would lead to key benchmarks and actions.
New Haven is the leader in the way of offering healthier food options in schools and enhanced education in healthy eating. The district has received a number of grants for improving the food in schools including expanding breakfast offerings, participation in the USDA Whole Grain Pilot Program, and modernizing the food preparation equipment in schools. Additionally, they are increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables available to students (some from local farms), they have added roasted chicken on the bone to the menu at all schools, they have significantly reduced the amount of breaded proteins by eliminating breaded chicken nuggets and chicken patties, they have removed all a-la-carte snacks from K-8 schools (i.e chips, cookies, etc.) and are working to incorporate more vegetarian options into the school lunch menu. Additionally, school gardens are becoming very popular and there is hope that a district farm may be created that will produce organic ingredients to be used in the district’s meals.
I am both honored and excited to be working with The White House and USDA on this important initiative on combating childhood obesity. As a school nutrition professional it is very encouraging to have so much support from the federal government surrounding child nutrition.
First Lady Michelle Obama & Education Secretary Arne Duncan
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Part II
I do agree with Jamie Oliver that a wake up call is needed somewhat for some school districts, but not all. There are many fine examples of school districts that have made significant changes throughout the country. The School Nutrition Association has been actively working with the USDA and Congress to promote better meals in schools.
My workers and I in New Haven not only talk about all the great things we do , but we also DO all these great things and publicize it.
It is fantastic that a celebrity chef is interested in seeing through with change and I applaud him for that, but the real heroes are the men and women in our school kitchens. Not only is Jamie a well know Chef but also a TV star, and BAD stuff sells, good stuff is TOO boring.
Below is just a start of what we have accomplished in less than 2 years by taking baby steps to change. Anything is possible but when we are dealing with children as our customers we need to remember children are fussy, that is why taking baby steps is so effective. Even with our tight budget we have made some drastic changes:
Working together with the top rated district wellness team in Connecticut, as assessed by the Connecticut State Department of Education and the Yale Rudd Center for Policy & Obesity, NH School Food is growing stronger every day developing new models for others to follow.
• School year 08-09 Food Services moved to a whole grain model for breads. USDA chooses NHPS School Food to participate in a whole grain pilot program.
• School year 08-09 – present: School menus feature mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, mashed butternut squash, roasted vegetables, corn on the cob all produced from scratch using fresh vegetables. We have substituted some of our beef for turkey products. Vegetarian offerings have increased to mixed reactions to include vegetable lasagna, eggplant parmagiana & pierogies along with more traditional items including salads, grilled cheese and whole grain pizza with reduced fat cheese.
• School year 09-10 chicken nuggets were eliminated from the menu; roasted “on the bone” chicken is a staple on our menu, always served with fresh vegetables.
• A la carte meal offerings and snacks were completely removed from the K-8 schools to keep the focus on the reimbursesable meal.
• NH School Food continues to think outside the “Lunch Box” by offering new and exciting sauces with our meals: Tangy Cherry Sauce, Sweet Red Pepper Sauce, Cacciatore Sauce, Curry Sauce, Cranberry Gravy and Sweet & Sour Sauce. We also are trying to incorporate new menu items: Shepherd’s Pie, Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry, Chicken Pot Pie and Jambalaya
• NHPS School Food is moving closer to the Central Kitchen model for all its K-8 schools. We can obtain better quality food and draw more competitive prices when purchasing in bulk. This will allow us to keep our costs stable and serve better meals to our students.
• Chef Tim wrote the bid documents for produce to attract a large produce vendor with very competitive prices who specializes in local farms to be our vendor
o In school year 08-09 more than 300 cases of apples (that's 12,000 lbs or 36,000 apples), 300 cases of pears, 75 cases of peaches, 100 cases of green beans, 100 cases of potatoes, and more than 6500 pounds of butternut squash, 400 pounds of tomatoes, 135 bags of corn, and quite a few cases of miscellaneous items such as cukes, eggplant, green and yellow squash, peppers, kale, and cabbage were procured from local farms in CT and MA. In 09-10 local farm purchases exceeded50,000 pounds.
• Chef Tim and Will Clark, NHPS COO met with The Sound School and developed a relationship to begin working together to feed New Haven students produce grown by New Haven students.
o 9/09 & 10/09: Sound School Pesto Roasted Chicken. Student grown veggies were present in the vegetable lasagna and salsa during CT Grown for CT Kids Week
o 11/09: NHPS School Food served Sound School Pesto Roasted Vegetables at the Working Lands Alliance Annual Meeting at the State Capitol.
o The Sound School Students also work with aquaponics and hydroponics; we are in discussions for them to grow micro-greens for us to serve to the students.
o Barnard School has a large school garden; we are developing afterschool enrichment programs with area chefs to teach both students and parents what to do with the veggies they grow. This may be a long term solution to childhood obesity.
o Edgewood School has a small organic garden; the vegetables are used for an afterschool cooking program with local chefs.
o Benjamin Jepson School began construction of raised beds for an organic garden
o Hill Central School is under construction and the plans include a 1200 sq ft organic garden.
• NH School Food is working collaboratively with local community groups to start our own farm. The farm will likely be split into 2 parts.
o 5 acre educational farm where the students will grow whatever they want, ie: bananas, pineapples, coconuts; while WE know these will not grow in CT we want to use this as an opportunity to educate the students on why and how they will not grow. We will also grow corn and soybeans to teach the students how these two vegetables have a negative effect on the soil and how they can significantly change the food system. We will also educate the students on basic preparation of the fruits and veggies to get the ready to be cooked, or eaten raw. This farm will be a full educational experience.
Envision bee hives, tapping of maple trees for sugaring, inoculating trees with mushrooms, composting worms and perhaps livestock in the future.
o 35-40 acre production farm where we will grow vegetables to serve in our schools. Two ideas on the vision of the farm include:
Growing a wide assortment of vegetables that can be blanched/roasted and frozen in bulk to be used throughout the school year.
Start basic with the ingredients (tomatoes, onions, peppers, herbs, etc…) to produce marinara sauce and salsa, we will work with a local processor to produce these in bulk for us to use in our schools. We will also have smaller packaging where we can market and sell the marinara sauce & salsa in local stores to generate revenue.
Long term goals:
• Add Greenhouses to the Farm to grow all year long.
• Add a Barn to be used as classrooms, sugar shack, commercial kitchen and for storage
o Both farms will be run under the auspices of one non-profit company. The non-profit will provide a certified Agriscience educator/PT farmer and a full time farmer.
o The farms will be made available for field trips to any schools or company (TEAM Building) that would want to visit. This would be a revenue builder for the non-profit.
o We are continuously applying for various grants that would allow for the establishment of the non-profit and to hire a Nutritionist for NH School Food. The Nutritionist would be working with the AG educator to ensure that the curricula meets the requirements that we set to educate the students on good nutrition habits in addition to teaching them about where the food comes from. We envision over 2,000 students will tour the farm on field trips from CPS and NHPS the first year with an additional 50 students coming through our Agriculture training program.
o The promotion of the farm to the teachers and administrators can be achieved professional development days & community events.
o We plan to continue working with our existing school yard gardens and creating more. We will also be planting small orchards in city schools, and spreading our message through different local and national media outlets, including print, TV and film.
We want to create a model that can be adapted by school districts across the country. We are also in discussions of adding a distribution channel to the non-profit to gain access to more local farms for our schools. By eliminating the middle man we can offer the farmer a fair price and decrease the prices currently offered by produce distributors. In addition we feel the distribution and farm plans will qualify us for Regionalization funding from the state.
NH School Food: Policy Work
• Chef Tim was one of only two school nutrition chefs to participate in the Childhood Obesity Summit at The White House on Friday April, 9, 2010. The summit was an opportunity for the President’s Task Force on Childhood Obesity to hear from experts and practitioners about the extent and causes of childhood obesity in this country and to gather input for its action plan to solve the problem within a generation, which is due to the President in May.
• Chef Tim continues to meet with National Hunger Relief Organizations, School Foodservice Directors & Chefs from around the country to discuss improving foods that children eat at school.
• Chef Tim along with End Hunger CT! & the School Nutrition Association of CT (SNACT) was instrumental in working with the state legislature in keeping the healthy food certification funding from being reduced.
• NHPS School Food, End Hunger CT!, SNACT and CT Food Bank hosted a listening session with US Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and CT Representative Toni Walker at a Wexler/Grant School in New Haven to discuss and voice concerns and ideas regarding the 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act.
• Chef Tim was chosen to serve on the Con-Agra School Advisory Board this year to assist a national food company move to a less processed mix of products.
• Chef Tim was invited to participate in a discussion regarding school marketing at the National Food Service Management Institute, Applied Research Division. Chef was one of seven food service director in the country invited to speak because of the success of the NHPS School Food Program. Chef was recommended by the CT State Director of Child Nutrition to participate in this discussion.
• NHPS School Food has been featured on the CT Style Show on WTNH Ch. 8 and the Better Connecticut Show on WFSB Ch. 3 and has received accolades from national trade magazines and newspapers. Chef Tim has spoken on National Public Radio’s “Tell Me More” with Jennifer Ludden about removing junk food from school meals.
My workers and I in New Haven not only talk about all the great things we do , but we also DO all these great things and publicize it.
It is fantastic that a celebrity chef is interested in seeing through with change and I applaud him for that, but the real heroes are the men and women in our school kitchens. Not only is Jamie a well know Chef but also a TV star, and BAD stuff sells, good stuff is TOO boring.
Below is just a start of what we have accomplished in less than 2 years by taking baby steps to change. Anything is possible but when we are dealing with children as our customers we need to remember children are fussy, that is why taking baby steps is so effective. Even with our tight budget we have made some drastic changes:
NH School Food Initiatives
Anything is possible but our children are our customers. We need to remember children are fussy; that is why taking baby steps is so effective. Even with our tight budget we have made some drastic changes.
Dr. Reginald Mayo, Superintendent of Schools was interested in the program Chef Tim developed in Bloomfield, CT Schools with Farm-to-School and serving children healthy foods and had a similar vision for NHPS. He brought in Chef Tim to work on the big stage to impact many more children in CT and to make this a model for other school districts to follow. That was July, 2008.NH School Food: Menu Offerings & Food
Working together with the top rated district wellness team in Connecticut, as assessed by the Connecticut State Department of Education and the Yale Rudd Center for Policy & Obesity, NH School Food is growing stronger every day developing new models for others to follow.
• School year 08-09 Food Services moved to a whole grain model for breads. USDA chooses NHPS School Food to participate in a whole grain pilot program.
• School year 08-09 – present: School menus feature mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, mashed butternut squash, roasted vegetables, corn on the cob all produced from scratch using fresh vegetables. We have substituted some of our beef for turkey products. Vegetarian offerings have increased to mixed reactions to include vegetable lasagna, eggplant parmagiana & pierogies along with more traditional items including salads, grilled cheese and whole grain pizza with reduced fat cheese.
• School year 09-10 chicken nuggets were eliminated from the menu; roasted “on the bone” chicken is a staple on our menu, always served with fresh vegetables.
• A la carte meal offerings and snacks were completely removed from the K-8 schools to keep the focus on the reimbursesable meal.
• NH School Food continues to think outside the “Lunch Box” by offering new and exciting sauces with our meals: Tangy Cherry Sauce, Sweet Red Pepper Sauce, Cacciatore Sauce, Curry Sauce, Cranberry Gravy and Sweet & Sour Sauce. We also are trying to incorporate new menu items: Shepherd’s Pie, Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry, Chicken Pot Pie and Jambalaya
• NHPS School Food is moving closer to the Central Kitchen model for all its K-8 schools. We can obtain better quality food and draw more competitive prices when purchasing in bulk. This will allow us to keep our costs stable and serve better meals to our students.
NH School Food: Farm Fresh Fruits & Veggies
• Food Services diverted $50,000 in commodity money to the DOD produce program to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables in School Year 08-09 and increased to $95,000 for SY 09-10. The DOD program has also provided us with many products from local farms• Chef Tim wrote the bid documents for produce to attract a large produce vendor with very competitive prices who specializes in local farms to be our vendor
o In school year 08-09 more than 300 cases of apples (that's 12,000 lbs or 36,000 apples), 300 cases of pears, 75 cases of peaches, 100 cases of green beans, 100 cases of potatoes, and more than 6500 pounds of butternut squash, 400 pounds of tomatoes, 135 bags of corn, and quite a few cases of miscellaneous items such as cukes, eggplant, green and yellow squash, peppers, kale, and cabbage were procured from local farms in CT and MA. In 09-10 local farm purchases exceeded50,000 pounds.
• Chef Tim and Will Clark, NHPS COO met with The Sound School and developed a relationship to begin working together to feed New Haven students produce grown by New Haven students.
o 9/09 & 10/09: Sound School Pesto Roasted Chicken. Student grown veggies were present in the vegetable lasagna and salsa during CT Grown for CT Kids Week
o 11/09: NHPS School Food served Sound School Pesto Roasted Vegetables at the Working Lands Alliance Annual Meeting at the State Capitol.
o The Sound School Students also work with aquaponics and hydroponics; we are in discussions for them to grow micro-greens for us to serve to the students.
o Barnard School has a large school garden; we are developing afterschool enrichment programs with area chefs to teach both students and parents what to do with the veggies they grow. This may be a long term solution to childhood obesity.
o Edgewood School has a small organic garden; the vegetables are used for an afterschool cooking program with local chefs.
o Benjamin Jepson School began construction of raised beds for an organic garden
o Hill Central School is under construction and the plans include a 1200 sq ft organic garden.
• NH School Food is working collaboratively with local community groups to start our own farm. The farm will likely be split into 2 parts.
o 5 acre educational farm where the students will grow whatever they want, ie: bananas, pineapples, coconuts; while WE know these will not grow in CT we want to use this as an opportunity to educate the students on why and how they will not grow. We will also grow corn and soybeans to teach the students how these two vegetables have a negative effect on the soil and how they can significantly change the food system. We will also educate the students on basic preparation of the fruits and veggies to get the ready to be cooked, or eaten raw. This farm will be a full educational experience.
Envision bee hives, tapping of maple trees for sugaring, inoculating trees with mushrooms, composting worms and perhaps livestock in the future.
o 35-40 acre production farm where we will grow vegetables to serve in our schools. Two ideas on the vision of the farm include:
Growing a wide assortment of vegetables that can be blanched/roasted and frozen in bulk to be used throughout the school year.
Start basic with the ingredients (tomatoes, onions, peppers, herbs, etc…) to produce marinara sauce and salsa, we will work with a local processor to produce these in bulk for us to use in our schools. We will also have smaller packaging where we can market and sell the marinara sauce & salsa in local stores to generate revenue.
Long term goals:
• Add Greenhouses to the Farm to grow all year long.
• Add a Barn to be used as classrooms, sugar shack, commercial kitchen and for storage
o Both farms will be run under the auspices of one non-profit company. The non-profit will provide a certified Agriscience educator/PT farmer and a full time farmer.
o The farms will be made available for field trips to any schools or company (TEAM Building) that would want to visit. This would be a revenue builder for the non-profit.
o We are continuously applying for various grants that would allow for the establishment of the non-profit and to hire a Nutritionist for NH School Food. The Nutritionist would be working with the AG educator to ensure that the curricula meets the requirements that we set to educate the students on good nutrition habits in addition to teaching them about where the food comes from. We envision over 2,000 students will tour the farm on field trips from CPS and NHPS the first year with an additional 50 students coming through our Agriculture training program.
o The promotion of the farm to the teachers and administrators can be achieved professional development days & community events.
o We plan to continue working with our existing school yard gardens and creating more. We will also be planting small orchards in city schools, and spreading our message through different local and national media outlets, including print, TV and film.
We want to create a model that can be adapted by school districts across the country. We are also in discussions of adding a distribution channel to the non-profit to gain access to more local farms for our schools. By eliminating the middle man we can offer the farmer a fair price and decrease the prices currently offered by produce distributors. In addition we feel the distribution and farm plans will qualify us for Regionalization funding from the state.
NH School Food: Policy Work
• Chef Tim was one of only two school nutrition chefs to participate in the Childhood Obesity Summit at The White House on Friday April, 9, 2010. The summit was an opportunity for the President’s Task Force on Childhood Obesity to hear from experts and practitioners about the extent and causes of childhood obesity in this country and to gather input for its action plan to solve the problem within a generation, which is due to the President in May.
• Chef Tim continues to meet with National Hunger Relief Organizations, School Foodservice Directors & Chefs from around the country to discuss improving foods that children eat at school.
• Chef Tim along with End Hunger CT! & the School Nutrition Association of CT (SNACT) was instrumental in working with the state legislature in keeping the healthy food certification funding from being reduced.
• NHPS School Food, End Hunger CT!, SNACT and CT Food Bank hosted a listening session with US Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and CT Representative Toni Walker at a Wexler/Grant School in New Haven to discuss and voice concerns and ideas regarding the 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act.
• Chef Tim was chosen to serve on the Con-Agra School Advisory Board this year to assist a national food company move to a less processed mix of products.
• Chef Tim was invited to participate in a discussion regarding school marketing at the National Food Service Management Institute, Applied Research Division. Chef was one of seven food service director in the country invited to speak because of the success of the NHPS School Food Program. Chef was recommended by the CT State Director of Child Nutrition to participate in this discussion.
• NHPS School Food has been featured on the CT Style Show on WTNH Ch. 8 and the Better Connecticut Show on WFSB Ch. 3 and has received accolades from national trade magazines and newspapers. Chef Tim has spoken on National Public Radio’s “Tell Me More” with Jennifer Ludden about removing junk food from school meals.
All these changes are possible because of the overwhelming support of the food service workers of Locals 217, 287, 884 & 3144 and the entire New Haven Public Schools Community!
I hope the above wasn't information overload. We are not the only school district making these changes, we just like to keep everyone informed. Check out www.schoolnutrition.org for more information on the School Nutrition Association. Or visit our website at http://www.nhps.net/node/8.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Food Revolution takes a turn...
While I was running on the treadmill this morning at the Gym and listening to my ipod I caught a glimpse of school meals on 2 different TV networks. I unplugged my ipod and listened to what Jamie Oliver and Mrs. Q had to say on Good Morning America about school meals.
Jamie's reaction to school meals was similiar to the what he expressed on his new TV reality show, "Food Revolution".
Although this morning, Chef Jamie, thinks that not only school meals need improvement but also many brown bag lunches. He said that he looked at severla brown bag lunches while he was in the schools an noticed that the quality of those meals was less than diserable too.
School Nutrition programs nationwide have been slammed and degraded by many because of the childhood obesity issue and the "Food Revolutionary" Chef himself points out by his simple comment that it is a much bigger problem. This is an issue more than just school meals, this is a societal issue that must be fixed.
The current food system allows us to eat whatever we want, whenever we want and as much as we want. Bigger is ALWAYS better is the mantra of many marketing campaigns.
In schools we have a captive audience and have the opportunity to make change and feed children better food but what was pointed out on one of the networks this morning was that children's palates are set up for pizza. In addition the palate of the brain is set up for BIGGER, FATTER, JUICIER foods that children see on tv and in magazines. The commercials for fresh, healthy, less-processed meals are non-existent...
Jamie's reaction to school meals was similiar to the what he expressed on his new TV reality show, "Food Revolution".
Although this morning, Chef Jamie, thinks that not only school meals need improvement but also many brown bag lunches. He said that he looked at severla brown bag lunches while he was in the schools an noticed that the quality of those meals was less than diserable too.
School Nutrition programs nationwide have been slammed and degraded by many because of the childhood obesity issue and the "Food Revolutionary" Chef himself points out by his simple comment that it is a much bigger problem. This is an issue more than just school meals, this is a societal issue that must be fixed.
The current food system allows us to eat whatever we want, whenever we want and as much as we want. Bigger is ALWAYS better is the mantra of many marketing campaigns.
In schools we have a captive audience and have the opportunity to make change and feed children better food but what was pointed out on one of the networks this morning was that children's palates are set up for pizza. In addition the palate of the brain is set up for BIGGER, FATTER, JUICIER foods that children see on tv and in magazines. The commercials for fresh, healthy, less-processed meals are non-existent...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Response to Jamie Oliver's New Reality Show "Food Revolution"
Last night was the "Sneak Preview" of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. A show about tring to serve better food in our schools. While I agree that something needs to be done, I don't feel his approach is the right one. As a Chef and parent who works in School Nutrition, I feel the need to comment.
Parents do need to take some of the blame; but seriously, there are children in this country that rely on school meals as their ONLY nutrition of the day. On the weekends these students eat whatever is available. Children are hungry and schools meal programs feed these children.
Are their problems with the types of food being served, YES. Are we sitting back watching this happen. Absolutely NOT! School meal programs are unlike any other food service program in the country. We rely heavily on subsidies, government reimbursements and USDA commodity food products to serve these meals.
Do we strive to serve the best food that meets the nutritional requirements set forth by the USDA, ABSOLUTELY! Are there things we can do to improve school meals, yes there is and WE ARE. For the last several years states have been working closely with the School Nutrition Association and local advocacy groups to pass local legislation to improve the quality of the foods offered.
Connecticut is one of those states. There are strict guidelines outlining what kinds beverages can be sold to children.
There are also a voluntary set of guidelines outlining food that can be sold to students. Although voluntary, a good majority of school districts participate because the state offers an additional $.10 in reimbursement for every lunch sold if you volunteer to participate in this program. The $.10 adds up quick, for New Haven Public Schools that equates to roughly $300K a year in additional reimbursement. This additional reimbursement is meant to replace the income lost from selling "junk food". It does not cover all of the loss but it is a good start (There is a proposal by Gov. Rell of CT to cut this funding in half, which will be devastating to the children of CT!). The food served meets the more strict requirements set forth by the state's Child Nutrition Office. These guidelines can be found here.
In New Haven Schools and other schools across the state we serve whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, many even from local farms (NHPS has served almost 50,000 pounds of local fruits and vegetables this year alone) and serve hormone and antibiotic free milk.
Last year NH School Food restricted all a la carte food sales in our K-8 schools. This year we eliminated mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets and breaded chicken patties from our regular menus. We serve roasted chicken on the bone, utilize red potatoes (from a local farm when available) for our mashed & roasted potatoes and limit the amount of french fries we menu.
We are speaking with our food manufacturers to strive to offer less processed food at affordable prices. I am beginning a dialogue with our dairy to procure chocolate milk without HFCS. We are planning school gardens and exploring starting our own farm.
I, along with several members of the School Nutrition Association of CT and SNA members from across the country were recently in Washington, DC to meet with our Congress men and women, the USDA and the White House to discuss what we can do, moving forward to continue to improve nutrition. Michele Obama has made school nutrition her focus as First Lady; the USDA is ready to see through with change and Congress is working on the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act. We are not just sitting down letting the world go by; we are all banding together to see this change go through.
The best thing we can do is to take baby steps. Change is difficult for people, especially children. To come in like the food police and ban everything and serve all home cooked organic meals or only vegetarian meals will not work. We have made big changes in New Haven; the Wellness cmte along with several community groups laid the groundwork in New Haven for changing the foods. When I was hired by Dr. Mayo, Superintendent of NHPS, my task was to serve more real foods, work with local farms, balance the budget, keep the staff happy (NH School Food's Staff is #1 in my book!) and see to it that change is happening. A big task, maybe, but I was just as excited about it then as I am now.
Chef Jamie's tactics of not only putting the staff down but ridiculing the students is unacceptable and should not be tolerated; while I realize this is TV and not everything happens exactly how it appears and there needs to be a WOW factor, it appeared that Chef Jamie was a bit over the top.
I will be the first person to stand up and say we need better meals for our children; we need to serve delicious, healthy, real food in our schools; we need to work with our community groups and local chefs to make this change.
BUT what we don't need is a revolution against School Nutrition Professionals who are doing nothing wrong. These men and women are following the rules set forth in place by Congress and USDA under the School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program.
Revolution, NO. Change, YES!
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