foodmuseumblog

On Fat Kids and Stingy Buffets

The Washington Post is running Part 2 of a major piece on childhood obesity in America, an exploration of the excesses of one country's love affair with bad food and drink choices, among other things.  But always part of this not-new story, is that in the poorest of our country's neighborhoods are the fewest decent supermarkets. The well-off have access to good food, gyms,  personal trainers, and multitudes of how-to books and magazines on health and well-being.
( My unsolicited advice to all new parents--never take your kid to McD's or the equivalent, period. One visit and they are hooked. )

Meanwhile, to buffets---I returned to a favorite Indian joint recently and found two of the three primary veggie offerings were 1--potatoes and a few green pepper hunks; 2--carrots and peas. Neither dish had much appeal, even though I enjoy both spuds and carrots. But I felt I was witnessing the "cheapening down" of what was once a worthwhile buffet, a phenomenon written up on the Internets recently.  And, puzzled by the not so fine taste of the chapati bread, I decided that they were made with inferior flour, to save costs, given the huge rise in wheat prices.  I will ask about that the next time I stop by, if I stop by again, but before parking myself for lunch, I will more closely scan the buffet offerings.   

Slaughtering News From All Over, Plus, A Teapot Scandal?

Grateful that I do not have 150 feet of intestines tucked inside, as do manatees, I see that the current crop of free healthy product magazines are recommending a huge roster of "cleansing" items this winter, none of which would be needed if the magazines' audience were eating as advised in the first place, right?

But I digress---a slaughterhouse video from Hallmark Meat Packing in Chino, CA, has prompted Los Angeles schools to withhold meat products from a company called Westland that buys meat from Hallmark, on the grounds that the "downer" cattle unable to walk towards their deaths were being dragged or pushed in, and thus might be suffering from diseases that could render their meat iffy for human consumption. Westland provides ground beef to the USDA's National School Lunch Program.  Many school systems around the US have chosen to reject meat from Westland, including some in Oregon and Florida.

( Meanwhile, rival groups in Kenya have been killing one another not only machetes, but also with bows and arrows. )

Japanese whalers, despite concentrated efforts to stop them, continue to slaughter whales with impunity, though Australian authorities now claim the video evidence they have will bolster their case against the spurious legal claim of the Japanese that they are taking whales for "research purposes."

Apparently The Teapot Museum of Sparta, NC, was the recipient of a $500,000 grant from the Federal Transportation office back in 2006, a fact now revealed to all and sundry with great derision. This report from 2007 says the planned new museum idea has been scrapped. Now as one who applauds any museum effort directed however tangentially at the subject of food, the stuff that sustains us, rather than at yet another monument to war and destruction, I must say that chunk of change would have been a fine first step towards the creation of the National Museum of Food & Farm on the Mall in Washington, DC. Read more about The FOOD Museum's proposal here.

Spare the "Nutrition," Spoil the Child with Good Food

I was just listening to a woman from the Center for Science in the Public Interest speaking with Ed Schultz on his  radio show about children and obesity. Now we all recognize that this is a huge  ( sorry) problem in America, as well as in Britain and elsewhere, and much has been said and written about it. But this morning, after chat about changing what is in school vending machines, and an acknowledgment that  lunchrooms have slowly improved their offerings,  the speaker said something about "teaching nutrition" in schools.

Please, no. Turning the food thing into a nutrition lesson will kill off anyone's appetite. ( Except for those of budding biochemists, perhaps.)  Imagine the young eyes glazing over when asked to focus on good and bad fats, which vitamins do what, amino acids--huh?, and so on.  This seems to play right  into the "fear  food" syndrome that appears so bizarre to many Europeans.

Kids need to experience what good food really is--from growing their own veggies, to cooking up tasty meals full of variety, to sitting down with classmates and teachers and family and eating well. And cleaning up!

They also could take pleasure in knowing where food comes from, who raises it, and what its  history is.  ( Yes, The FOOD Museum offers proven educational programs along these lines!)

Interspersed with all that, like green peas in basmati rice, could be inserted stealth nuggets about nutrition...

( Pic from www.newmexicokids.org/.../index.htm.)

Fluffernutter Wars Rage in Massachusetts

Thanks to alert food fan Ezra Ball for informing us about the key school lunch reform issue of the day--should kids in Massachusetts be served Fluffernutter sandwiches at school ? And--a prime legislative issue-- should said sandwich be named the state's official one?

State senator Jarrett Barrios has called for legislation limiting the serving of Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter sandwiches to schoolkids to once a week. This bizarre icky-sweet combo, traditionally served on Wonderbread or an equivalent non-bread, is a Massachusetts kiddie staple. Fluff is made from corn syrup, sugar syrup, vanilla and egg whites, with no preservatives, evidently. And it's still produced in Lynn, Massachusetts by Durkee-Mower Inc. The company's history is longish and detailed and reading some of it sparked a memory in Foodie of her actual young self scooping out Fluff from the jar and eating it on top of a scoop of chocolate ice cream....and licking the spoon, with catlike thoroughness. ( She had Massachusetts relations who plied her with the stuff...It was delish, come to think of it.)

Anyway, now another state rep, Kathi-Anne Reinstein, wants to make the Fluffernutter the state sandwich. Stay tuned.

As for actual marshmallows, those melting gooey divine glops of sugar integral to the S'mores beloved of campers, they once were derived from a plant. The marsh mallow's  mucilaginous content was used to hold the sugar and eggwhite together--these days gelatin made from animal bones does the trick, though we don't think gelatin is a factor in M. Fluff.

Fewer Soft Drinks, Lower Saturated Fat

Good news in the food biz!

USA Today reports on a deal reached with beverage distributors to remove soft drinks from all elementary and middle school vending machines. The arrangement was worked out by Bill Clinton's Foundation, in partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the American Heart Association.

USA Today is also running a piece by Bruce Horovitz that reports Frito-Lay is replacing cottonseed oil with sunflower oil, for the cooking of all its potato chip lines.

"The result of the latest change: Saturated fat in the flagship Lay's Classic chips, for example, will drop by 66%, from 3 grams per 1-ounce serving to a single gram. Based on Lay's total sales, the switch will cut 60 million pounds of saturated fat a year from the nation's diet, says Rocco Papalia, senior vice president of R&D.

Not that this solves America's fat problems. 'Moving in a healthier direction is good,' says Jo Ann Hattner, a nutrition consultant in San Francisco. 'But just because your chips got lower in saturated fat doesn't mean you can go out to eat fried chicken.'"

Let 'Em Eat Crap! ( Other Than During Test Week...)

This just caught our eyes, courtesy the Miami Herald, April 21.  Seems a Fort Lauderdale elementary school principal was pleased that her 4th graders made advances in the standardized test for writing, part of Florida's FCAT.  And, that it had been an entire school effort.

Said she: " Everyone became reading and writing specialists," adding that even the school cafeteria workers helped out by planning test week menus low in sugar and free of high fructose corn syrup.

Heading Towards School Lunch Reform

Those concerned with what kids eat at school, please read this from Marian Burros in today's NYTimes.

( Pic at left, labeled Kids Eating Vegetables!, is from www.schoolhouseofwonder.org, Durham, NC.)

Bill Clinton, Reformed Fat Boy, Will Share His Story with Students

Former President Bill Clinton  begins a tour of US schools this September in connection with an American Heart Association campaign aimed to "reduce childhood obesity in the US within 10 years," according to Sanjay Gupta's column in the August 1 Time Magazine.  Evidently Bill was 210 pounds at age 15, and not pleased about it.
Clinton suggests restaurants like McD's need to change their core menus. Tra La. The column points out that McD's is one of the largest purchasers of apples in the US, indicating this is  "progress." If those apples are going into the transfat and sugar laden apple  "pies" the company sells, that ain't progress, baby.  (  McD's website lists 250 calories per 2.7 oz baked apple pie serving, 34 carbs, 11 grams of fat of which 4.5 are trans fat.)  Anyway, as Morgan Spurlock points out in his film, Supersize Me, and his book, few people go to McD's for the salads and apples.
( Pic of BC from www.jaybrewer.net--Okay, we know Bill no longer eats the stuff, right??)

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..........
   

Arnold Says CA to Terminate Junk in School Vending Machines

Twinkies may someday be out, apples in, in CA school vending machines, if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can move ahead with appropriate legislation.

According to an article by mindfully.org, " 'First of all, we in California this year are introducing legislation that would ban all the sale of junk food in the schools,' Schwarzenegger said.

Aides said later that the governor supports a bill by Democratic state Sen. Martha Escutia that would ban soft drinks at public schools, and that the administration hopes to develop a more comprehensive legislative package dealing with snack foods. "

First "Foodie" First Lady? Teresa Heinz Kerry

Teresa Heinz Kerry says if her husband is elected President one of her First Lady project priorities will be school lunch reform and promoting healthy eating in general.

In an interview with Marian Burros of The New York Times, October 13, 2004 Heinz Kerry said that she will bring manufacturers, chefs together to improve food in public schools. She said, "Schools and communities have to commit to the idea of being healthy. We have to start looking at the food, the drinks and sports as nice, good healthy living. It could save $50 billion to $60 billion if we could stop diabetes."

The article includes this quote: "We can't be a nation content to have young children at 7 and 8 suffering from adult onset diabetes." "That's not right; it's a preventable thing. I am very concerned about junk food in the schools."

Mrs. Heinz Kerry would be perhaps the nation's first "foodie" first lady. According to Burros: "The depth of her knowledge about food safety and nutrition comes from extensive reading and from consultations with experts. " During her first marriage (Senator John Heinz) she was a stay-at-home Mom, who prepared all the meals for the family and taught her three sons to cook.

The article gives some insight into a foodie's nightmare, a year on the campaign trail and away from a kitchen and control over what you eat. Here's what Heinz Kerry said: "I've gained so much weight now because I eat late and I'm so tired, it's just very hard. For someone who has always been thin, either you become neurotic about it or give up and say, when this is over I'll deal with it. I'll cut out wine."

Food Business Profits--Fat or Lean

"Is the food industry part of the solution or the problem?" asks a NY Times headline. Here's an excerpt from the article by reporter Dan Buss.

"A new obsession of America's food, beverage and restaurant companies is thwarting childhood obesity. With more nutritious products, healthier menus and new activity programs, the companies have begun a big push aimed at the youngest generation.

Frito-Lay is offering reduced-fat Doritos in school lunch rooms. Oscar Mayer has added apple sauce and other healthy choices to its Lunchables meal-kit line. Kraft has come out with a sugarless Kool-Aid that is being marketed in magazines like Diabetic Cooking and Diabetes Forecast.

Among restaurant chains, Wendy's has slipped orange slices into children's meals, and Denny's has made French fries much harder to find on its menu than new side dishes of fruits and vegetables.

And, this fall, Coca-Cola is helping finance a new after-school fitness program."The big idea is to give kids education, motivation and access to ways to change," said Brock Leach, the chief innovations officer at PepsiCo, which owns Frito-Lay. "The food business can play a very constructive role in that, making these foods available to kids and marketing them in ways that make a healthier lifestyle more attractive."

For decades, of course, the industry has been known for serving up sugary or fat-laden products, promoted with ceaseless advertising. And despite all the new, healthier options, that will not change. "If they stop, their competitors are right there and will fill the void," said Dr. Walter Willett, chief of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Critics say these companies are taking a new direction only to escape or mitigate possible court verdicts that could blame the food industry for the fact that about 15 percent of American youth now are plumper than they should be, more than double the proportion of 25 years ago. "There are hordes of lawyers looking at the industry's marketing practices in a way that's never happened before," said Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University."

Better late than never that food companies develop and market healthier foods for kids? Or is it simply the parents' fault that they have overweight kids? What's your reaction to this trend? Leave a comment below.

Researcher Urgently Seeks Info: Collegiate Food Services

Remember "Mystery Meat?" Anyone who went to college in the 1960's surely recalls that delectable dorm cafeteria offering, as well as "the white meal," a pallid plate of white meat, white potatoes with white gravy, and cauliflower.
( Or maybe it was just my school...)

Anyway, maybe alert bloggers can assist Lee Krehbiel with the following:

"I am exploring the history of university/collegiate food service....
The project begins with the rise of
universities (named later) around the 12th century and going through
the emergence of massive contractors on the 20th. We are not limiting
ourselves to universities in the West, although that will be our
primary focus. Anecdotes, food products associated with an institution of
higher education, stories of food rebellions, etc., are all of
interest.

Many thanks. "

Lee Krehbiel, Ph.D. [email protected]
Assistant Dean, Student Affairs
Idaho State University
208 282 2794

Nauseate Me!

Aaagh...Foodie went to the local $1 movie house to see "SuperSize Me!," Morgan Spurlock's prize winning fastfoodamentary, and almost lost her dal and basmati rice right there in row four, feet up.
Seeing Spurlock stuff himself for 30 days with McDonald's finest offerings is as close to a horror film as she is likely to witness these days. Eating crap, while confined to a jammed urgent care lobby with teenybop top ten hits piped in for all eternity, and nothing to read but a three year old People Magazine, would be a true Foodie hell.
Back to the film---It's better put together and more riveting than "Farenheit 911"--it has the traditional beginning, middle and end, see--and the outcome is fraught with unknowns--will formerly healthy, vigorous Spurlock go into cardiac arrest climbing the stairs to his apartment? Will his three physicians have him committed? Will his mother rush to New York from West Virginia carrying a casserole?
Stats you would rather not know, even if you have NEVER eaten a Big Mac, come hurtling your way, sometimes via funny cartoons, sometimes from "the experts," including my favorite,wise and mellow Marion Nestle of NYU.
All those young kids lined up in the school cafeteria to get garbage.......Foodie cannot go on. She needs something cold, wet, something akin to, um, a beer, maybe one of those nifty, icy New Zealand beers waiting right there in the fridge..
Almost favorite scene--at the end, Spurlock and his nutritionist sit next to a Mount Fuji of refined sugar, precisely how much Spurlock took in during his 30 days.
See this flick!