School Lunch Makes Teacher Lose Her Appetite

Published on Friday, January 22, 2010, by Joyce Slaton / Edit Post

When we went to school, the cafeteria featured such things as food cooked by human beings, served with big metal spoons from giant trays. But as the blog Fed Up: School Lunch Project demonstrates, times have changed. Each day, an anonymous schoolteacher in Illinois pays $3 for the school hot lunch, photographs it, eats it, then gives a report on her blog.

Even after only a few weeks of posts, Fed Up paints a devastating picture of how the school lunch program is failing kids. Mystery meat, still-frozen fruit cups, "pizza" with cheese that separates into fat layers. Everything is individually wrapped and, if it's hot, it's been microwaved. Weird pairings are rampant: Pizza and pretzels? A hot dog, cookie, and Tater Tots? The pictures are disgusting enough, but the descriptions are even worse: "I guess the green beans had some kind of butter sauce. I didn't taste a sauce but there was a little buttery residue on the bottom of the paper package." Is this food supposed to be fueling the next generation?

It makes the work done by people like school lunch activist Ann Cooper seem even more important.

Image source: Flickr member back_garage under Creative Commons

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POST A COMMENT |3 Comments

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  • SCHOOL LUNCHES ARE SO NASTY. THE MEAT IS GROSS, WITH HARD PEICES IN IT, THE HOT DOGS BOUNCE AND ARE LIKE RUBBER AND WHY DON'T THEY FOLLOW THE POSTED MENU? OFTEN THEY MAKE SUBSTITUTES THAT DON'T EVEN MATCH THE MAIN DISH. (REALLY GROSS)
    WITH SMALLER PORTIONS EVERY YEAR. NOT CHEAP EITHER FOR FAIRFIELD COUNTY.

  • the removal of pop machines(replaced with fruit uices, water and milk)as i had managed to do inmy kids' school- and the reintroduction of family studies(cooking classes) would also be helpful as many kids' parents lack the basic cooking skills to pass onto their kids

  • Thanks so much for this great story!

    I want to point out an upcoming opportunity to help improve school lunches. Congress is revising the Child Nutrition Act, which currently makes no provision for vegetarian foods. We need to ask Congress to help schools serve more fruits, vegetables, vegetarian foods. You can get involved in a campaign that’s working to do just that:...+READ

    Thanks so much for this great story!

    I want to point out an upcoming opportunity to help improve school lunches. Congress is revising the Child Nutrition Act, which currently makes no provision for vegetarian foods. We need to ask Congress to help schools serve more fruits, vegetables, vegetarian foods. You can get involved in a campaign that’s working to do just that: http://HealthySchoolLunches.org.-COLLAPSE