Tuesday, May 18, 2010

lunch pail tales

I started reading Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project a while back. I can't remember how I came across it in the first place. (I like to remember how I've gotten to the blogs I read.) I've really enjoyed the guest posts, especially a recent one featuring Mendy Heaps.

Heaps is a teacher who took action regarding the unhealthy food offered and sold at her school. She started offering water in her classroom -- the water was available to students throughout the day. She started selling baggies of fruits and vegetables in her classroom. Eventually, there was enough demand from other students in her school that she started peddling her fare on the Fruit Cart that students took from classroom to classroom at the end of the day. After a bit, she was reprimanded and she quit her Fruit Cart enterprise. Back to the unhealthy, yet oh-so-tempting, snacks. Ugh.

We are soon entering the world of elementary school and elementary school food. Well, kind of. I'm pretty sure that I've shared here before that I brought lunch to school throughout my schooling. Actually, by the time I reached high school, I preferred to wait until after school to eat, but I did occasionally still bring lunch. Indie and I'd bring food and share. I fully intend to send Pic with a packed lunch every day. I have grand plans of us standing together at the counter, every night before a school day, packing our lunches together (although me packing a lunch is somewhat absurd). I've long been scouting out and saving school lunch ideas in preparation.

Some inspiration:

dalai mama dishes

'the lunch box post' from beauty that moves [just one example out of many from this blog]

what's for lunch at our house [I'm still way back in 2007 on this one]

Buon appetito!

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Currently watching; Julie & Julia

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice post...my daughter will be going to 1st grade next year and this means eating lunch at school. I fully intend to pack her lunch each day. I watched Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and was stunned at the school lunches...chocolate and strawberry milk...come on, that is a treat, not a healthy drink option!
Suzy

v said...

I watched that show also. The food my schools offered was very similar. My daughter is all for packing a lunch. I hope she doesn't change her mind.

I completely agree about the milk. I tell my daughter that chocolate milk is a treat. (There is a chocolate syrup recipe on the 'lunch box post' link from Heather at beauty that moves, in case you're interested. I haven't tried it yet, but if I ever do want chocolate syrup, I'll be trying it out.)