The blog, Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project, is one teacher's clandestine chronicle of the lunch time garbage that supposedly passes muster as a lunch capable of supplying 6 to 11 year-olds with the nutritional values they need for an afternoon of learning and activities. Though not all schools menus may be as nutritionally disgraceful as this particular example, it does make one wonder how teachers are supposed to help their students' young minds develop intellectually when physically they are denied the sustenance and nourishment required to make it through the afternoon.
Reading through several days of commentary and viewing the accompanying photographs (see example at right) taken by the anonymous blogger I have to wonder how our children manage to get through the day at all.
Unfortunately, these nutritional values are introduced to our children far earlier than in the school lunch room. My job as a preschool photographer takes me into different preschools and daycare centers daily. The quality of the food differs drastically for place to place. I've seen everything from staff dividing up McDonald's nuggets and fries among the children to full scratch-made lasagna being pulled from the stove and served on real plates with fresh baked bread. Let me tell you my belly was rumbling and mouth drooling that day - the smells were absolutely fantastic!
Even the youngest of preschoolers know the difference in the quality. I've a 16-month-old nephew who eats well and loves his vegetables. What he doesn't like is processed meat - of any sort. I've watched him devour a Gerber Graduates pasta meal (he LOVES the pasta) with obvious enjoyment while at the same time pick around the pieces of meat. And if he should get a piece in his mouth? Well he promptly fishes it out and feeds it to the dog.
He also has a hearty appetite and it is amazing to watch how much he could eat if allowed - but then his energy seems boundless too. Yet I have to wonder at just how much - or rather how little - a portion size he receives at his daycare when somedays the first thing he will do on walking in the house is run to the pantry and get out one of his meals - not a snack or treat which are equally reachable - but a complete meal. Something tells me he must be hungry and, now, I feel a need to know why.
Photo Credit: Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project
Reading through several days of commentary and viewing the accompanying photographs (see example at right) taken by the anonymous blogger I have to wonder how our children manage to get through the day at all.
Unfortunately, these nutritional values are introduced to our children far earlier than in the school lunch room. My job as a preschool photographer takes me into different preschools and daycare centers daily. The quality of the food differs drastically for place to place. I've seen everything from staff dividing up McDonald's nuggets and fries among the children to full scratch-made lasagna being pulled from the stove and served on real plates with fresh baked bread. Let me tell you my belly was rumbling and mouth drooling that day - the smells were absolutely fantastic!
Even the youngest of preschoolers know the difference in the quality. I've a 16-month-old nephew who eats well and loves his vegetables. What he doesn't like is processed meat - of any sort. I've watched him devour a Gerber Graduates pasta meal (he LOVES the pasta) with obvious enjoyment while at the same time pick around the pieces of meat. And if he should get a piece in his mouth? Well he promptly fishes it out and feeds it to the dog.
He also has a hearty appetite and it is amazing to watch how much he could eat if allowed - but then his energy seems boundless too. Yet I have to wonder at just how much - or rather how little - a portion size he receives at his daycare when somedays the first thing he will do on walking in the house is run to the pantry and get out one of his meals - not a snack or treat which are equally reachable - but a complete meal. Something tells me he must be hungry and, now, I feel a need to know why.
Photo Credit: Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project
Wow, I haven't thought about the quality of our school menus in a very long time. One of my very first student teaching assignments was at an elementary schools that had a very good cafeteria and one of the perks was getting their fresh baked cookies for lunch. Wow, that was probably about 100 lbs. ago. Ack.
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