Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver are on parallel tracks with one goal: improve the eating habits of American schoolchildren. Obama’s Let’s Move program has met with bipartisan approval as the U.S. observes, with increasing alarm, two types of “growth” we do not need: weight and ill health.
But what are they both up against? School lunches are vilified in films and memoirs of childhood. Add to the “tradition” of terrible food the additional onus of poor body image by many students, plus anxiety created by peers who watch what you eat, and you have a recipe for kids eating the most “acceptable” food available. In the high schools where I taught, that often consisted of vending machine items high in sodium and trans fats.
Do you remember how hungry you were when you came home from school? Children, from the age of 11 to their high school graduations, are at least that hungry — and sometimes more.
Enter Oliver, who 10 years ago appeared on television as “The Naked Chef” (the food, not the chef, was “naked”). He has spent the last several years spearheading charitable projects training underprivileged youth to become chefs, and training school districts (and Tony Blair) to overhaul the nutrition of British school lunches. It is Jamie’s contention that food can be attractive, delicious and healthy, and that anyone can be taught to love eating and preparing healthy food.
Oliver has one strike for him and one against him in his current television series, co-produced with Ryan Seacrest. The United States is starting to make positive changes in its diet — beginning with the elimination of trans fats at many fast-food restaurants, and including the recent decision by the Pepsi and Coca-Cola companies to remove sugary drinks from schools around the world. Gone are the days when students could have a bag of chips and a sugary soft drink, with caffeine, for breakfast.
But Oliver’s problem resides in his hostile reception as he tries to spread the nutritional “word” to Huntington, W.Va. He calls cafeteria workers “lunch ladies” and “girls,” even though they are decades older than he is. He titles his lunch-going head-to-head with pepperoni pizza “chicken and brown rice.” It’s no surprise that few students choose the healthy option. What about “drumsticks with Cajun rice” or even “cluck ‘n’ dirty rice”? Labels count.
What I loathed in school was anything that called attention to itself. I avoided slimy foods (yogurt, with its separating whey, or coleslaw, with its watery dressing.) Schools could instead serve Greek yogurt, drained of whey, and colorful coleslaw, with red and green cabbage and grated carrots, dressed with less mayo so it’s not runny.
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre and data from booksellers. Information on the books below came from Amazon.com’s list of children’s best-sellers and are listed in order of popularity.
Children’s books on school food
1. The Cafeteria Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler and Jared Lee (ages 4 to 8)
2. Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies … by Dav Pilkey (ages 9 to 12)
3. Something Queer in the Cafeteria by Elizabeth Levy and Mordicai Gerstein (ages 9 to 12)
4. Cream of Creature from the School Cafeteria by Mike Thaler and Jared Lee (ages 4 to 8)
5. It Came from the Cafeteria by Peter Lerangis (ages 9 to 12)
6. 101 School Cafeteria Jokes by Jovial Bob Stine and Don Orehek (ages 9 to 12)
7. Don’t Get Caught Wearing the Lunch Lady’s Hairnet by Todd Strasser (ages 9 to 12)
8. School Lunch by True Kelley (ages 4 to 8)
What healthy foods will our children eat? I know from cooking for 50-plus students during Advanced Placement review sessions that tacos, quesadillas and healthy dips will go over big. Kids like salad bars, chili, burritos and pasta with vegetables. Anything with a “cool” ethnic sound is worth a try.
More next week on Oliver’s efforts in Huntington and Obama’s school incentives to change lunch from vilified fatfest to healthful energy boost. What healthy foods would your children eat in their school cafeteria?
Erica Jacobs, whose column appears Wednesday, teaches at George Mason University. E-mail her at [email protected].
