Thursday's Thought

Dear Judy, Jennie Garth, star of "Beverly Hills, 90210," thinks greasy school lunches are not so cool--and the mother of three wants Congress to help students get better options. In a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Garth urges Rep. Pelosi to throw her support behind a House bill that would fight childhood obesity by assisting schools in serving healthier choices. “I’m writing to you because I am passionate about promoting healthy lifestyles,” writes Ms. Garth in her letter. “This past year, I have been working to educate and motivate children to make healthy choices. But nutrition education isn’t enough: We also have to make sure that every child in America can find healthy foods in their school cafeteria.” The bill Garth supports, The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act (H.R. 5504), would help schools serve more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat plant-based meal options. Ms. Garth is one of more than 30 celebrities who have written to Congress to ask for healthy school lunches. Would you like a copy of Jennie Garth’s letter? And would you like to interview a nutrition expert? Best, Tara

I received this letter today from a media source. As a grass roots person, I'm not sure that this is the way to go. A bill in Congress to help schools serve...is not going to get it on the tables. The United States Department of Agriculture Child and Adult Food Program which has been the school lunch ruling authority for decades indicates the rules by which schools must serve our lunches to children. It dictates that early childhood places must serve:

2 ounces of protein
4 ounces of fruits and vegetables
1 ounce of grain
8 ounces of milk

at lunch. More to bigger kids. Now what you do with those components is the real issue.

True, most school based lunches swerve the rules and end up containing three starches and something non-describable from a can, and consequently there is more than 85% plate waste. Therefore, school lunches are mostly thrown away. But the program of serving children lunch in school is still a good one. Considering the lunch from home I found on the bus one day containing some fruit snacks, a candy bar, a coke, and a bag of chips, a school lunch can't be worse.

Let's face it, few people eat well or know how to eat well, and by the looks of many of them, that includes congress. How many really understand what this bill would have to manage to get the job done right? Does a bill that calls for more fruits and vegetables take into account the present plate waste? Probably not. Is offering children 6-8 ounces of fruits and vegetables instead of 4 an idea that will produce a balanced diet? I have my doubts.

As someone who tried for a year and a half to softly and carefully begin a program of healthy eating in Evansville through the combined efforts of the childcare centers in our city within the new city wide coalition - mouthful - I know I couldn't get passed being ignored. I was tabled so many times, I just gave up. In the same regard, I'm not sure Congress is going to be able to do much with this since they are all fighting for their political lives right now. They might willy-nilly allocate a billion dollars to someone for something, but the lunches won't change because the "interpretation" of the rules will always yield to the "doer." The doer, or producer of meals wants ease and convenience and with food that does not mean extra work.

It's really a matter of understanding food, and few people do. Someone who says, "I made a yummy lunch of pork steak in a nice thick milk gravy, instant mashed potatoes with lots of margarine, canned buttered corn and a popin' fresh biscuit just oozing with margarine," is not going to be as optimistic about baked soy burgers on whole wheat buns, half an apple and two ounces of carrots.

Most children would want the hot greasy lunch because they crave the calories and the warm food rarely gotten in most homes. And few are going to go for the soy burger because it's not what they get at home. Really, how do you make a soy burger taste good?

Finding a common ground with kids is not that hard. It's always a balance between what they will and should eat. It's a matter of simplicity, recognition, fun and taste.

Let's look at the pork steak meal. There is nothing wrong with pork steak. But instead of cooking it in gravy, I would bake it hard in the oven and serve chunks of meat as a finger food to be dipped into a little fresh honey. I would change the instant potatoes to whole fresh potatoes that have been quartered and baked like giant home fries and served with ketchup. I would serve the corn without the butter and cooked very lightly, and it would have to be frozen if not fresh. And lastly, I would serve a choice of whole wheat breads. No margarine. Margarine is half a molecule away from plastic. Better to use a jelly or a Benedictine fudge - something mixed with honey.

If you presented the differences between the two meals in the last paragraph, you would bore the heck out of Congress and nothing would be done at all, so it's a losing battle from the git go. It's really a matter of hiring people in the kitchens of schools who will first buy good food, and then make good food from the guidelines already available, and no bill in congress, even floating down to us on the backs of angels is going to make the lunch less greasy.