School Lunch Reform--A Full Report, PLUS " The White Meal"

The FOOD Museum's motto is from famed writer about food and eating, MFK Fisher, who said in an interview once, "First we eat. Then we do everything else."
Right--before we can build, paint, teach, fight, play, write, manage, jog,  organize, research, act, compete, we must be fueled.  This includes children, too, oddly.

How well are we feeding schoolchildren in the US? How well elsewhere in the world?  Morgan Sperlock, the fellow who ate McDonald's for a month and recorded his "findings" on film for his award-winning documentary "Super Size Me,"  has a book out called Don't Eat This Book.   In it he states: " Some 23,000 of our public schools now have fast-food franchises in them."   And, the US government tosses in vatfuls of surplus milk, cheese, and oodles of meat. Clearly we in the US are really really doing a swell job at feeding our kids at school.

But enough. The tide may be turning. For a full  and positive report on this topic, with sources, links and looks at countries beyond the US, please visit The FOOD Museum's newest offering compiled by Tom Hughes,  all about school lunch reform.

Hey--remember "mystery meat?"  Remember "the white meal?"  It appeared once a week when Foodie went to college back when dinos roamed the quad,  and she knows college kids are not school children but still, it was a school, and even then, before Foodie became, well, Foodie, she had been raised on tasty, healthy, colorful food. So "the white meal" really had an impact.
Now Foodie is willing to reveal the makeup of "the white meal," but first, let's see what you Blog commenters think it contained, ok?  Weigh in..........
   

Comments

[susie]

The white meal... I can't say I've encoutered it myself, but I'll take a stab. Turkey, mashed potatoes/rice, and white bread?

Vanilla pudding?

Tell me how wrong I am!

[Foodie]

Mashed potatoes and white bread are correct, Susie. But there's more......No turkey....Nice try.
Dessert was not specifically linked to "the white meal," but I think tapioca pudding suitable for use as a sturdy school glue was offered.

[Cynthia]

I don't have any recollection of white meals, but I do have vivid memories of beige meals. Fried potatoes, fried chicken, and a roll were not uncommon. Or fried potatoes, mystery meet and a roll. Or fried potatoes and macaraoni and cheese. But one of the stunners I remember from college was quite colorful -- we called it swamp jello. At the end of the week, they'd melt all the week's jello flavors into one sheet pan, so you'd end up with a greenish-brownish jellow with orange swirls.

Of course, in retrospect, I have to smile, because when we got tired of the beige food in the cafeteria, we went after other beige food -- usually peanut butter and salteens.

Having gone to school in California, however, I did at least have access to snacks that were most excellent -- we had avocado or artichokes every week in the dorm, as well as bags of oranges.

To be perfectly honest, I think the biggest nutrition problem, at least for me, was unlimited access to softdrinks in the cafeteria -- but at least the cola was always color coordinated with the beige food!

[Foodie]

Wouldn't you know that CA would have a beige meal, a step up from pasty white..? Sheesh.

But at least we were spared swamp jello. Thanks for sharing.

[Foodie]

Okay, folks, as you are all on vacation or hols, Foodie will divulge that "the white meal" consisted of mashed potatoes, white rolls, a slab of very white pork with white gravy, and cauliflower, no dash of paprika on top.
Unbelievable?!! But oh so true.

[susie]

Oh, it was the OTHER white meat!!! Hee.

Sounds so delicious!

[KathyF]

Late chiming in, but I prefer "Ecru Meal" to white meal. But that's just me.

[Will Barrett]

Fried potatoes, fried chicken, and a roll were not uncommon. Or fried potatoes, mystery meet and a roll. Or fried potatoes and macaraoni and cheese

[arik]

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[Renee]

My two children both eat in the school cafeteria everyday both at lunch and at breakfast. I do not allow them to pack their lunches from home. I know they are getting a very nutritious breakfast and lunch 5 days a week. My children's ages are 6 and 8. I also don't allow them to get the flavored milk or any of the juices, they get reduced fat white milk with both breakfast and lunch. Which they have never tried chocolate milk, so they love regular milk. Breakfast is .75 and Lunch is $1.10, you can't beat it!!! They are happy and healthy little girls.

[Juno888]

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