What are your children having for lunch at school today? Although my children go to a private school and we opt to have bagged lunches, I found Lunch Wars By Amy Kalafa to be eye opening. We think we send our children to school to be nourished academically and socially and forget the nutrition factor in it all.

 

From Amy’s research, it sounds like we are giving our children too many chemicals, preservatives and sugar to actually be in a position to even learn at school. In middle and upper school, I remember the lunches of pizza and whatever other meat they were serving. I was a brown bagger back then as well except on the occasion it was salad bar day. However back in the 80’s I am sure it was all iceberg lettuce.

 

Amy Kalfka outlines the steps suggested in Lunch Wars to get a healthy and organic based lunch on your children’s plates. It just takes a few people and a cooperative school. I can imagine there are plenty of local farms that are willing to provide your school with surplus produce at a reduced rate to help with the costs. I love the idea of having these farms come to your school or setting up field trips for the children to see where food really does come from. If you think about it, where does a Doritos really come from?

 

I feel fortunate that our school is progressive in that they already compost, have some local vendors, only offer dessert a few days a week (usually the days my kids ask to buy), and have started this year having some of the grade levels have recess before lunch. After reading Lunch Wars, there are definitely things I am curious about within my school, such as the use of organic milk and where they get their beef. For the $5 a la carte price I hope it is full of nutrition.

 

Since originally writing this post I was a volunteer during lunch, and no there was no organic milk but the pasta was whole wheat. Many kids came out of the lunch line with just pasta and rolls, no veggies and no sauce. I guess you can’t force this issue but it definitely made me think hmmmm.

 

Come join the discussion and see how your children’s school’s fair