School Lunch Warriors

Something new is hitting the lunch trays at New York public schools- vegetables. Fresh vegetables, you know, those colorful things that come out of the ground. School lunches were once synonymous with highly processed foods that hardly represented their original ingredients. But recently, at some New York City Public schools, not for profits and the Department of Education have redesigned menus and collaborated with popular chefs to jazz up the grub and tighten the relationship between kids, food, and what they eat.

The need to change school lunches did not come out of nowhere- recent studies have shown that the United States has been getting less and less healthy- kids being no exception. According to the Center for Disease Control’s 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Survey, 18.1% of kids ages 12-19 are obese. In their study from 1976-1980, only 5% were obese. Seeing as school is one place most kids eat at some point during the day, New York City is leading the pack by trying to make at least one of the day’s meals fresh and healthy.

While the US Department of Agriculture sets the nutritional standards for all school lunches, in New York a combination of work from the Department of Education’s School Food program and different not for profits have been meeting those standards while working to better the health and decrease the obesity rates of their students.

The New York Coalition for Healthy School Food is one of those not for profits. The Coalition was started to push a legislative resolution to implement a new standard for school lunches- to provide one plant-based entrée in every school lunch so anyone opting for a veggie option isn’t stuck with the side salad. Amie Hamlin, the Executive Director of the program, was asked by concerned public school parents to write and organize the resolution.  Well good writing and organizing Hamlin must have done, as the resolution was unanimously passed by the New York senate. Hamlin said the plant-based lunch makeovers are soon to be on plates in 24 schools.

The Coalition teamed up with Candle 79, a vegetarian restaurant on the Upper East Side, to make fresh vegetarian dishes that hopefully appeal to students. During the past school year the Coalition has been running a pilot program and working with Candle 79 at the Future Leader’s Institute in Harlem. The program has included a revamp of the school lunch menu, as well as classroom education about nutrition and a free once monthly family dinner night.

The Coalition has had to work with the Department of Education to meet nutrition standards. Hamlin said the New York Department of Education’s School Food program is doing well compared to other states. “They use no artificial colors, preservatives, or trans fats. It doesn’t necessarily make food healthy, but it’s a good step.” Hamlin said. And on working with the Department, she said, “Considering it’s such a bureaucracy, they’re fairly easy to work with.” The Department certainly has a lot of ground to cover- New York City is the largest school system in the country- feeding kids at 1600 schools every day- now that is no small feat.

With the schools on board, the next step in providing healthier food for schools is getting the kids to like it. David Sapphire is the coordinator of the New York City Green Market’s Learn it, Grow it, Eat it Program. He works with students from four high schools in the South Bronx at various community gardens. Despite being offered a fresh lunch cooked on site, a lot of students refuse it and walk down the road to get fast food. “It’s not so simple,” Sapphire said, “It’s a comfort thing. They’re not used to vegetables as their meal.”

To make healthy, vegetable focused food a comfortable option for kids, getting the family on board has been recognized by organizations as a rather important step. Hamlin’s Coalition’s once monthly family dinner night provides dinner as well as education material and coking demos for the entire family of any students who want to attend.

Hamlin said the dinner nights have been full of excitement, and success. “Recently the mother of a student got up on the table and twirled around because she had lost 15 pounds.” Hamlin said. “She said to everyone, “You can do it too.” And it was because she learned about all the sugar in soda during the family dinner nights.”

At the moment, not every school is working with organizations such as Hamlin’s, and still has improvements to make. Juliet Tam, a teacher at the Bronx Leadership Academy in the South Bronx, said, “I went to check out the school lunch recently. It was awful, I would never eat that stuff.” Her students said they never eat it either, and bring a lunch instead.

Perhaps not all kids are thrilled with what they are being fed, but according to Chef Jorge Collazo, who collaborated with the Food Network’s celebrity chef Rachel Ray to redesign lunch menus, New York is working its way up the school lunch ladder. “Schools are very complicated places,” Collazo said, “It takes a lot of awareness to change. Some people make criticisms without understanding the context.”

While not every New York City public school has had the help of notable chefs and additional organizations, there is a future of health seeping into the scene, and with any luck, there will be no lunch tray left behind.