For today’s Friday Buffet, a potpourri of items that caught my attention this past week:
DC School District to Stop Serving Flavored Milk
DC parents have apparently succeeded in getting flavored milk out of their school district. Ed Bruske (the blogger behind The Slow Cook and Better DC School Food) posts about it here. One issue mentioned in Ed’s post which I hadn’t considered in my previous discussion of the flavored milk issue (“The Chocolate Milk Wars”) is the possible behavioral problems exhibited by students as a result of consuming so much sugar from the milk, especially when combined with other sugary foods offered in school. Something to think about.
“Top Chef” Takes on School Food
I’m not a regular watcher of “Top Chef” on Bravo, so I may be the last one to know that this week the contestants took on the task of making lunch for a public school (in support of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign). I plan to track down the episode, but at least one commentator has noted that the chefs were given $2.68 per child to work with — hardly a true reflection of the financial constraints real schools districts work under. (As explained in my School Lunch FAQ’s, schools do in fact get $2.68 for each child served a free lunch, but the majority of that money is spent on operating costs, leaving only a dollar or so for the food.)
Support for Better School Food . . . In the National Defense Bill?
Noting the connection between childhood hunger and obesity and impaired military recruitment, the US House of Representatives voted in favor of an amendment to a military spending bill expressing support for adequate funding for the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. You can read about it in this post from the Healthy Schools Campaign.
Yet Another Bento Box!
Finally, news of yet another bento-style lunch box landed in my in-box. I haven’t compared this one with the other boxes mentioned previously on The Lunch Tray but thought I’d pass the information on.
Have a great weekend! More Lunch Tray next week.