School Food

Reading article "School Food" - Reply to this / 13 comment(s)
Last year there was plenty in the news about Jamie Oliver and his 'Feed me better' campaign.

This year, there's almost nothing about school food in the news. From what I remember, he got plenty of politicians to make distinctly qualified promises to improve school food and, sadly, was pretty much fobbed out and 'politicked' into beliveing that he'd acheived something.

Today, after reading an article online about the same problem in America, it made me wonder what food is on offer in schools throughout the UK:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/...

This would be a great place for anyone who finds it to let us know what food is on offer in your kids school and whether you think it's good enough. So, if you've just found your way here from the front page, Google or an email from a friend, please sign up - it's free and we don't give out your details to *anyone* else.

http://www.feedmebetter.com/ 

Reply to this

Comments

1. RE: School Food by jhoffman, 931 days ago

   Has there really been no progress? I thought that at least some schools have tried to introduce healthier options and reduce the high-fat/salt foods in their canteens.
   
   Not just schools though - I think that hospitals would benefit a lot from better canteens, too.

   Reply to this comment

   1. Re: RE: School Food by suttree, 931 days ago

      True story - my wife gave birth to our son on a Sunday lunchtime. We moved out of the delivery room and onto the maternity ward. Later on, a nurse came round to see what the new mums wanted to eat for tea. Being vegetarian, my wife asked for the veggie option. Unbeliveably, there wasn't a single veggie choice to be had.
      
      In the end I had to run home and chop some cucumber and that was about all she had to eat.

      Reply to this comment

      1. Re: Re: RE: School Food by jhoffman, 930 days ago

         Really? That's actually ridiculous! You would've thought that vegetarianism was a really rare thing by that, but it's not - haven't they run into this problem before quite a few times?? Madness.
         
         And congratulations, by the way!

         Reply to this comment

         1. Re: Re: Re: RE: School Food by jane, 930 days ago

            Oh yes, it's true, and it was just after receiving a lecture about how important it was for breast feeding mums to eat healthily and to eat enough to produce enough milk..... I've never enjoyed cucumber, tomatoes and peanuts so much (it was all we had and being a sunday shops were closed)

            Reply to this comment

      2. Re: Re: RE: School Food by Green Diva, 929 days ago

         I don't have kids in school yet, but I wonder about the quality of food that they is served as well. I remember the whole ketchup is a veggie controversy a few years back.

         Reply to this comment

   2. Re: RE: School Food by jane, 931 days ago

      It has begun to improve. I know that a number of schools have got rid of national caterers and taken the responsibility back in house. ~There are a number of training centres throughout the country often run by organic farms, for staff to learn about cooking healthily and economically. As the series said, many school dinner staff did not know how to cook, only how to reheat etc. Not that unlike many families!

      Reply to this comment

2. 'What happened when Jamie went home' by suttree, 927 days ago

   The Guardian have picked up on this idea too:
   
   http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/stor...
   
   This is my favourite quote:
   
   "Tony Blair promised to take action and, within weeks, the new education secretary, Ruth Kelly, announced that an extra £235m would be invested in improving meals over the next three years. A School Meals Review Panel would assess the state of the current service.
   
   Fifteen million pounds of that money went on setting up the School Food Trust"
   
   £15 million pounds and they're aiming for 50p per kid? There's nothing like management to absorb all that spare cash. nice try Jamie, I just don't think anyone could have prepared you for dealing with Government. Sentiment doesn't have any currency over there.

   Reply to this comment

3. Re: School Food by duncan, 908 days ago

   It seems like parents (angrymoms) in America are taking this quite seriously, too:
   
   http://www.angrymoms.org/index.html

   Reply to this comment

4. A real shame by jane, 908 days ago

   I've just read this....
   
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5177880.stm
   
   Which is saying that the number of pupils having school lunches is reducing slightly. Some of this will be parents pulling them out because of the negative coverage, but how much is because the kids wont eat the healthier food? It would be interesting to know.

   Reply to this comment

5. Re: School Food by ninikins, 907 days ago

   I'm still absolutely baffled about the lack of veggie options in a hopsital. That is downright ridiculous

   Reply to this comment

   1. Re: Re: School Food by duncan, 906 days ago

      Frightening, isn't it. We didn't complain at the time because we had a kid to look after, I guess that makes us British ;)

      Reply to this comment

   2. Re: Re: School Food by Green Diva, 904 days ago

      Amazing isn't it? You'd think the staff nutritionist at the hospital would make sure there are well balanced meals--with veggies!

      Reply to this comment

6. Re: School Food by duncan, 892 days ago

   Taking it to the extreme, though, is this service in the US:
   
   https://www.mealpayplus.com/
   
   As reported in Newsweek, parents can use MealPayPlus to prepay their childrens' school lunches and even specify what they can and cannot buy with the money.
   
   The point of healthy eating for kids is that you want them to *understand* why they should eat certain foods, not begrudge it and force themselves to do it, or go behind your backs.

   Reply to this comment

About ecolocal.co.uk

Ecolocal is free to join - why not register today? Our members can start discussions and comment on all the threads taking place throughout ecolocal.co.uk.

Help us build the best source for healthy living and local news by submitting your tips, events and links so that we can all learn how to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.