This is not your father's (or your mother's) school lunch...

Yesterday morning, I was listening to the news, and the meteorologist was talking about a recent visit to a local school to talk & teach about all things weather related.  As Mr. Weather Dude bantered with the news anchors about the event, he commented on how amazing the school smelled because in the cafeteria, they were baking apple crisp for the school lunch menu.  This led to a conversation about school meals, past & present.  Finally, Mr. Weather Dude commented: "Kids today have it made!".   Quickly, I tweeted to Mr. Weather Dude, thanking him for his inadvertent shout out to school meals.  He's right!  When it comes to school meals, kids today do have it made!

I wonder though... how many people were listening... and how many people really got what he was talking about.

We've been brainstorming about this a lot lately.   School meals do not look... or taste... like they did in the past: School meals have changed DRAMATICALLY over the past 10, 20, 30, 40 years.  But, when parents consider whether to send a lunch with their child or whether their child will get school lunch, the parent's frame of reference for school lunch is often what the parent experienced for school lunch when they were in school.  Or how they have seen school lunch portrayed on television or in the media.

If you were eating school meals back in the 60's, school meals at your school might have looked a little like this:

school lunch in 1966
photo credit Bon Appetit Magazine

or in the 70's/early 80's, it may have looked a little more like this:

If parent's idea of school lunch has been framed by the media - tv & movies... or even worse, viral pictures that they may have been posted on social media, their idea of school meals may look more like this:

These photos were widely distributed over social media as "examples" of how terrible school lunches had become over the years.  Whether these photos were true examples or not, we may never know.  But, here is my point:  School Meals shouldn't be judges by past experience.  And here's why:  School Meals have changed drastically over the past 5 or 10 years.  Initiatives such as Farm to School, Chefs Move to School and the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 have made a huge impact on the freshness and quality of the meals.  So, when considering school meals, visit your school's cafeteria!  Ask if you can eat a school meal with your child, or visit the school nutrition program's website or Facebook page. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised by what you find.  Here are some photos of school meals from our own district:

Quesadilla lunch in RSU #14

Panini & Vegetable Quinoa Soup
Chicken Pot Pie with Whole Grain Biscuits

These are just a few examples  from our district, but for more, head on over to our Facebook Page at Windham Raymond School Nutrition Program.   

Its not just us though!  Across the country, schools are stepping up to the plate, serving fresh, delicious, restaurant quality food that meets the USDA guidelines.  Here are a couple more examples from York Schools in southern Maine.  

Delicious School Meals in York, Maine

School Meals that Rock on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter, is a great place to check out what is happening in school cafeterias across the country, and if you are a school nutrition professional, it is also a fantastic place to get inspired!  

There is one other thing about school meals that does not get talked about very often.   Frequently, the lunches that students bring from home (brown bag lunches) are nowhere near as nutritionally complete as a school lunch provided by the school cafeteria.   A study by Tufts University, and published online in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that only 11% of lunches from home included a vegetable, only 17% contained a dairy product, and while many student had water packed for their beverage, a significant number had a sugar sweetened beverage packed for the drink.  It is not uncommon for us to see a child in the cafeteria with a package of some sort of crackers and a drink as his or her entlunch.    

School lunches provide BOTH fruit & vegetable choices, as well as protein, whole grains and milk. They are power packed with nutritious foods and a great value every single day!

I urge you to check out your school's school nutrition program.  Perhaps they have an online presence on social media, or a website you can visit.  Perhaps you can stop by for lunch with your child, though I recommend calling first so that the cafeteria is sure to have enough food.  No matter what you do... it's time to give school meals a second look!  You'll be happy that you did!    Check out this great video, made by the School Nutrition Association:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Am I the only one that always, without fail, starts singing Aretha Franklin when I think about respect?   The queen of soul sure knows how to command some respect...  "All I'm askin'
Is for a little respect... just a little bit, just a little bit".

The issue of respect came up this past week, and I starting thinking about ALL that school nutrition professionals do behind the scenes to support the education learning environment.  First and foremost, we ensure that students are well fed, well nourished.   It's what we are called to do - its as simple as that.  Or... is it simple at all?  

Food is a funny thing.  Everyone has to eat food.  Therefore, everyone thinks that they are an expert on food.  Everyone has an opinion on what is good, what is healthy.  Not a day goes by without a headline or article about some food related issue.  You've seen the fads and the headlines.  I don't need to reiterate them here- gluten, dairy, protein, carbs, fat, no fat, ... the list goes on and on.   And while everyone is an expert at "the food they LIKE to eat", not many people are REAL experts at feeding kids - lots of kids, hundreds or thousands, all at one time - nutritious food.  For that expertise... we look to the school nutrition professional.

Here's what happened this week that got me going on this.  A new child nutrition manager in my district was concerned that the number of students who had signed up to eat school lunch on a certain day was significantly low, and so she ventured up to the school office to inquire if there was a major flu epidemic or a field trip that we were unaware of.  The administrative support personnel in the office informed our manager that no... there was nothing out of the ordinary going on.  But, perhaps it could be what was on the menu.  Our manager replied that the menu was a favorite, BBQ Chicken, to which the administrative support person rolled her eyes and replied something like, "well there's your answer", as if it was the worst menu ever.  

I'll just stop right here for a second to tell you that our BBQ Chicken Drumsticks are amazing! Rubbed with a signature spice rub, then slow roasted in the oven, and brushed with bbq sauce at the end.   Students love them, staff love them... they taste and smell delicious.   Sometimes, before a student has enjoyed this meal... they are UNAWARE that you can eat chicken that still has the bones in it!  We feel good serving this meal - it is #realschoolfood.  Whole food, cooked on site, and served with delicious sweet potato fries, a school baked whole wheat roll, assorted fruits & veggies and milk. 

This upsets me... and the school nutrition staff because we have worked so hard to change the school nutrition environment.  It wasn't so long ago that our school nutrition operation was mainly freezer to oven.   Due to changing regulations, combined with a desire to serve more local foods and more whole foods, we have transitioned to a place where the majority of our menu is made from scratch, often using local ingredients, as available.  This has required incredible training and dedication on the part of our staff. You will not find a more enthusiastic, dedicated group of school nutrition professionals.  They have embraced the change... the journey, as we have dedicated ourselves to serving school meals that meet the USDA Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 guidelines, while at the same time focusing on #wholefood and #local food. 

Do we disparage the education professionals for their teaching methods or for their choice of curriculum?  Of course we do not!  We are not educational professionals!  We are not educated in what the best way to teach reading... or writing ... or math.  We leave that to the teaching professionals in our district.  And we respect them for what they do!   And all we are asking... "is for a little respect... just a little bit".   We are tired of the emails and snide comments about the menu, like the comment I received last winter when we had our Super Bowl Fun Friday Breakfast: "whose BIG idea was it to put a DONUT on the menu this morning?".

The week ended on a better note...   as I sat before my administrators discussing next year's budget, and telling them about all of our successes, as well as our challenges,  one of the administrators said, "School Meals are integral to the Learning Environment.  We have to support them!"  

Wow, I thought!  Thank you!  All we are asking, is for a little respect... just a little bit!   The time, dedication and effort it takes to feed thousands nutritious meals to the  students in our district (state, country) cannot be minimized!  As my friend Dayle Hayes, of School Meals that Rock says, School Meals Improve Learning Environments.  Its almost like our administrator had the good fortune of sitting in on one of Dayle's excellent educational sessions.  Maybe he has... either way - he's got the message!

S-M-I-L-E
School Meals Improve Learning Environments
from School Meals that Rock

Children come to school hungry - without food in their bellies, without a lunch in their backpack - every single day.  Hungry children cannot focus on their school work.  And so, as my administrator said, school meals are an integral part of the learning environment.   We are feeding the future!

Let's all just respect each other for amazing work that we do.  Teachers, school nutrition professionals, technology specialists, custodians & maintenance professionals, ed techs & paraprofessionals - together we can accomplish amazing things.    All we are asking, is for a little respect... just a little bit.  Just a little bit!