Omnivore Atlanta

Last week Omnivore linked to a New York Times op-ed piece, “No Lunch Left Behind” about the National School Lunch Program in which contributers’ Alice Waters and Katrina Heron call for a complete overhaul of meal management and options. Instead of the usual chicken nuggets and cardboard pizza, they’d like to see more freshly cooked, nutritious alternatives on the weekly menus. According to the editorial:

Many nutrition experts believe that it is possible to fix the National School Lunch Program by throwing a little more money at it. But without healthy food (and cooks and kitchens to prepare it), increased financing will only create a larger junk-food distribution system. We need to scrap the current system and start from scratch. Washington needs to give schools enough money to cook and serve unprocessed foods that are produced without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. When possible, these foods should be locally grown.

The proposed changes would have a $27 billion price tag which is a far cry from the reported $9 billion tab in 2007.  Unfortunately, this seemingly reasonable request which would help combat record number childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes doesn’t have a fighting chance. Lobbyist and other advocacy groups vie to sway scientific opinion in order to cash in on this lucrative distribution market.

The American News Project posted this feature on YouTube explaining how corporate interests muddy the fight for better nutrition in the public school lunch program.

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