Local and national government need to come up with a ten-year strategy and some real money to re-educate people about proper eating habits. This is what I think needs to happen now:

1. In schools: make cooking and life skills classes compulsory for all kids so they learn about food and good eating habits while they're young.

2. For teachers: recruit and train new cookery teachers, otherwise the new right that kids have to cookery lessons just isn’t going to happen.

3. For heads: empower heads to make every school a junk food free zone.

4. For parents: educate parents and help them to understand the basics of family cooking and responsible nutrition.

5. For dinner ladies: invest in dinner ladies with proper training and enough paid hours to cook their food with fresh ingredients.

6. Commit to a ten-year strategic plan and fund a long-term public campaign to get people back on to a proper diet and empower/persuade (and possibly scare, if needed) the public to make better choices. With obesity costing the NHS more than smoking, it seems logical that a similar campaign should be appropriate.

No comment from me on the quaint/sexist terminology ("dinner ladies").

vermicious_knid

Shreveport, LA

February 2008

JAN 18, 2010 11:01 PM

If there has never been a more perfect illustration of how bureaucratic, big government actually manifests itself then I don't know what is.

For real people, c'mon - industrial prison/school food = political statement time.

Featuring regional (southern U.S.) cuisine during a holiday that acknowledges a revered icon from there = "racism"

...God almighty, get over yourselves.

Vegetarianism, local produce, sustainable farming practices from suppliers, living wages for cafeteria workers, hilal options for Muslim students, etc...

There is literally nothing that the modern left, with its growth of nanny state government "sending a representative message throughout society" won't assume that it has dominion over and a stake in promoting a political message with its actions. Or even worse, no "message" by a given policy is meant but it needs to be attacked, analyzed, evaluated, and so on..... to determine its political underpinnings.

Most of this shit is pretty laughable. It makes me think of Bishops in colleges arguing over the number of angels capable of dancing on needle heads in the middle ages of Europe.

The same command, centralize, and control system has transmorphed itself, only this time with Government being deified as opposed to God. That is really what the modern left is - government worshippers, and by god, your local district's school lunch program's rightful place is one of evangelical nature.

mingol

Singapore

July 2005

JAN 19, 2010 05:23 AM

Thistle said:

Otoki said:
I also find it fucked that candy and pop companies can have their shit in the schools, but that's another issue.

At my high school we were not allowed to do candy-selling fundraisers (such as selling lollipops to raise money for a band trip) on campus because it violated the vending machine companies' non-competition contract.

That is genuinely appalling.

TheFuckOffKid said:
Has anyone mentioned UK celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's campaign for better school lunches?

That's the first thing this discussion made me think of. I know some people rip on Jamie Oliver, but I remember hearing him discuss the subject a few years back and being impressed by his take on it.

I would like to post a Parkinson appearance of his that I remember watching, but it doesn't seem to be on YouTube, unfortunately.

Clidna

Canada

January 2005

JAN 19, 2010 03:04 PM

Coyotemike said:

Clidna said:
Wow. When I was in elementary school, we didn't even have a school lunch option. We had to bring a lunch. My kids that are in elementary school don't have a school lunch option either. They have to bring a lunch. They get special "Food days" a couple times a month, where they can order a hot lunch, but that's it.

Is that common in Canada?

As far as I know... now given, we live in a relatively small town, but it was the same when we lived close to Toronto, except they had hot lunches once a week instead of once every two weeks. And in both places, it's $6 - $7 per child. Not a huge expense, but if you have 2 or 3 kids in school, it really adds up! I remember between that and the milk program, I was writing cheques to the school for close to $100 a month.

On another note, the elementary schools here aren't allowed to have vending machines, either (which is a good thing).

On a third note, some areas have Catholic middle schools - my eldest was in one until this year It just depends on the need.

On a fourth and final note, I don't think "dinner ladies" is meant to be sexist - that's just what they are called. The company that does my kids hot lunches is called "Lunch Lady." Dinner lady is just the UK term, from what my hubby tells me.