School Food: Philosophical Fights along with some Solutions
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Susan Rubin

Alice Waters wrote an Op-Ed in the NY Times last Friday that set off shock waves of responses, both positive and negative. Some folks just can’t handle Alice’s idealism. Their perception of foodie elitism has resulted in blog posts like this one from the Internet Food Association: The Pretentious is the Enemy of the Good

I am a huge fan of Alice Waters and have been a soldier in her “delicious revolution” for over a decade. That being said, I do understand why some people go nuts when they hear or read anyone waxing so eloquently over fresh veggies in season. Sadly, this is because many people have lost all sense of the “F word” . We’ve given our power and our money over to the food industry in pursuit of supposed nutrition and convenience.

All food snobbery aside, once we get over the sticker shock of what Alice suggested for school lunch (Can you find a good lunch in the real world for $5 ?), let’s consider what benefits would result from this investment in infrastructure.

Forget about the NSLP as we know it now. Like the USDA and the FDA , it is broken and sorely in need of a complete overhaul. The food industry and their lobbies run the show as Steven Greenstreet reported last week in the Food Lobby Goes to School.

Back in the 70’s Earl Butz was famous for saying “get big or get out”.
Today the answer is get small, local and diversified. This will benefit our waistlines, our wallet and the world. Instead of subsidies to big agribusiness, let’s support local small farmers. That puts money directly back into our communities, saves energy by decreasing the distance from farm to plate.
Instead of supporting nation wide legislation what will end up pre-empting the good work that states like CT, RI, NY, KY and others are doing, let’s support stronger legislation on the state and local level thru grass roots advocacy which is not backed by the soda industry or agribusiness lobbies. This is the way to break the stranglehold that the food industry has on us.

The focus should be on farm to school, along with real food education. Teach kids to grow & cook food and learn about food culture and history. Get rid of the USDA food pyramid: it’s uninspiring and full of conflicts of interest and is only used in health class! Stop talking about calories and fat grams and talk real ingredients instead. Kids with a higher Food IQ become successful adults who actually know how to feed themselves and don’t need to rely on fast food and chemicalized, processed packaged food.

Did I mention healthcare? When we talk “healthcare” in the US, we really mean “medical insurance” . Medical insurance is a great thing to have if you get in an accident and need emergency surgery, but it’s not something that truly cares for our health.

School food reform is an investment in our children’s future.Investing in food focused infrastructure IS preventative healthcare at it’s finest. Pay your farmer, not your doctor! No food snobbery here, just basic common sense.

Alice is not the only one out there with this sort of vision. Here’s some more folks who are doing great work on the school food front:

Check out what Tony Geraci is starting to do with the Baltimore school system. By advocating for food to be sourced in state and by starting gardens, Tony and the City of Baltimore are creating positive change that saves and creates jobs.

Food consultant Kate Adamick is hard at work with S’Cool Food in Santa Barbara county.

Chef Ann Cooper is now spending time in Boulder, Colorado stay tuned for details.

Want to get really inspired? Check out the thousands of college students who are advocating for Real Food on hundreds of college campuses across the country. Most of these smart, passionate young people are Environmental Studies majors. Their Real Food Challenge is small, local, diversified and very connected. These sort of grass roots based movements will shape our future.

Smart parents are pushing for this too. This is what the mission of Better School Food is all about. We are a coalition of health professionals, educators and concerned parents who are advocating for healthy change on the grass roots levels in preschools, K-12, afterschool programs and summer camps across the country. We’re not a bunch of elite food snobs, crunchy granola tree huggers, dogmatic vegans or raw foodies. Our bottom line is common sense. I hope you’ll join us!