Dead Tree Alert: Lunch Is a Battlefield

I might check this out, I can usually handle the documentary-style reality shows like 30 Days. This would have been a good topic for that show, actually — take some fat slob who’s used to eating crap all the time and move him into a house of health nuts.

The ban on trans fats seems silly (I’d prefer something like a skull and crossbones logo that alerts me to the presence of trans fats but let’s me make my own decisions), but I’m all for healthier school lunches. Plus even the plainest roast chicken and brown rice would taste better than the mysterious steak and cheese product my school served every Friday. We did get a small cup of “salad” (shredded iceberg lettuce) every day but most kids would dump that out to use as a ketchup container.

I watched the preview on Sunday, tho my DVR cut off the very end. A couple of things…First, I love Jamie Oliver, and I hope he’s able to help our school lunches in the same way he helped across the pond. Second, I was born not far from Huntington, WV, and still have much family there. The obesity epidemic was born there too – it’s disgusting to see the way people eat and live there. That being said, my family manages to live in that part of the country and remain quite fit and healthy.
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The one thing the show misses almost completely is the money issue. WV’s economy is thrashed, and has been for years. It’s all great and wonderful to teach people how to cook and eat a more healthy selection of foods. But who’s going to pay for it?? Most of the people in WV can’t afford to buy fresh and organic foods, plain and simple.
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The school lunch ladies did touch on the money issue a little when they asked Jamie who was going to pay for all the fresh food. Good luck to them!
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I’m anxious to see where the show goes, and what sort of changes he’s able to achieve in just 2 or 3 months. I sort of wish they’d combine this show with Biggest Loser – I really hate that the latter focuses so much on exercise and not on food. The combo of the two would be truly enlightening.

Yeah, it’s been a while since I saw the pilot episode, but I recall the issue of the price-per-lunch coming up.

For the home cook (I am in no way a food expert, just someone who cooks a lot): the issue may be as much time as money. (Time, of course, is money, a related issue if you’re a working parent, e.g.) *Organic* food is expensive; fresh nonorganic, not so much, depending what you’re using it to replace. It depends what you’re buying, but cooking, say, the pasta meal from scratch that JO demo’ed for the family in the episode is probably a good bit cheaper, dollar for dollar, than the same amount of food via frozen dinners (even cheap ones on sale) or takeout. I don’t think JO is expecting them to shop at Whole Foods.

Speaking of that family he visited: one thing I noticed but didn’t have room for here is–that mom is probably a really good cook! Yeah, she deep-fries everything, but she’s making donuts with chocolate icing! She’s making her own tortilla chips! She clearly has the ability and a certain amount of time to cook from scratch: if you applied that same skill toward cooking with fresh produce, there’s no reason she couldn’t be eating much healthier food, with no more effort and possibly cheaper.

Wow – thanks for the response! I agree with you in many respects. I am a working parent, but also a foodie. I’m not a chef (as that requires years of industry experience), but I do have a culinary degree, and have been cooking my entire life.
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Re: organic vs. fresh/local – once the gov’t got hold of the organic label, the whole concept went down hill. I’d much rather purchase locally grown foods, grown using ‘organic’ methods (tho not necessarily ‘certified.’) – but that’s an entirely different discussion.
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For me, time is the issue. The only way for my family to eat well consistently, and not fall into the frozen dinner / dining out trap, is for me to spend time either on the weekends or in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed prepping meals for later in the week. Add in all the other obligations my family has during the week…you get the picture.
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The family JO visited during the pilot did have a LOT going for it. The 12-year old is a budding culinarian for sure. I loved the way his face lit up when he was cooking. And the mother certainly has skills, and the time to put them to good use. I, too, loved that she made donuts and chips from scratch.
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Finally, I agree the notion that prepackaged foods are cheaper is a complete farce. Produce and other fresh ingredients are dirt cheap – especially if you have a source for them other than the local chain grocer. But in sneaks that nasty ‘time’ issue again – and that’s where prepackaged foods become “cheap.”

James, I wanted to share one more thing – http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/dining/31lunch.html?partner=rss&emc=rss – this article talks about the other players in this ‘revolution.’ For me, however, what this article really highlights is the terrible things that can happen when Congress gets involved.
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The article states that saturated fat is one of the biggest culprits in the dietary failure of school lunch programs. The solution? Mandate that only skim and 1% milk can be offered in school lunch programs. Are you kidding me??? Do they know what milk producers do to skim and lowfat milk products?? Do they realize that the fat in whole milk is actually GOOD for kids?? It helps their brains develop for crying out loud!
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If saturated fat is the problem, then get rid of the pizza and french fries – that’s why I ate almost EVERY day in the cafeteria, btw, and that was (dare i say) 20 years ago.
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Getting rid of whole milk is a stupid stupid thing to do. And it just goes to show that once the government grabs hold of something, lobbying groups get involved, and the whole thing goes to hell.
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Argh!

I found your article hard to undestrand jumping from point to point and inconclusive