[Sca-cooks] OOP - NYT article on emerging, exotic, slightly dangerous food trend...

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Sep 24, 2007, at 10:17 AM, Karin Burgess wrote:

> I have a daughter who attends 4th grade. We always get flyers from  
> the school about what is suggested "party food" Also what should  
> and should not be in a child's lunch.  I find it a bit hypocritical  
> that when I ask my daughter what kinds of vegetables are served in  
> the cafeteria, she says canned peas, over cooked carrots or corn.   
> Never any salads, rarely fresh fruit (usually canned with heavy  
> syrup)  and only milk as a drink choice.
>
>   Now they do offer a vegetarian alternative, but it is yogurt  
> instead of the meat dish.
>
>   And also due to budget cuts, they have almost completely removed  
> PE from the school week.  She usually gets one 20 minute period  
> every week.
>
>   Now I do agree that there are many over weight children , I see  
> it all the time. But it seems counter productive to reduce physical  
> activity yet still offer a less then balanced meal.

It's hard, and sometimes heartbreaking, to send your kid out to  
school under those conditions. It's not so long since the Evil Spawn  
was dealing with the school lunch, and some of the accounts would be  
pretty comical if they weren't so sad. He's actually been quite lucky  
compared to some (although he claims he still has nightmares about  
the Fish and Cheese Amalgam Fillets that he got in the fourth grade).  
He now claims the school cafeteria lunch is not only not worth the $. 
25 they charge for it, but that it is a personal affront for which  
the school should pay him for the privilege of having him eat it.

Nowadays he generally buys a bottle of water at lunchtime, and either  
buys something after school (we were both thrilled to learn that the  
ancient and venerable mom-and-pop Italian delicatessen, est. 1912,  
was still alive and well two blocks from his school building, which  
used to be my school building, albeit a different school), or raids  
the fridge when he gets home.

Luckily, he does have a decent gym class...

Adamantius