More School Lunches Going Vegetarian

[FayeforCure]

More School Lunches Going Vegetarian
by Amy Hatch (RSS feed) Aug 26th 2009 8:00AM

Categories: Eating & nutrition, In the news, Education

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Schools are serving more vegetarian options. Credit: Siege N. Gin, Flickr

Move over, soggy pizza and deep-fried mystery meat -- a new study from the School Nutrition Association says that two out of every three school cafeterias are dishing up vegetarian options on a regular basis, a 40 percent increase since 2003.

Schools across the nation are offering kids healthy entrees, like vegetable burritos, pasta with lentil sauce and veggie stir-fry over rice. And according to our sister site, That's Fit, the healthy choices don't end there. Students can also chow down on desserts made with healthy ingredients, such as low-fat fruit crumbles, blueberry muffins and even black-bean brownies.

At Rockdale County Public Schools just outside Atlanta, Ga., even the hamburger and hot-dog buns are made on site using whole wheat flour, according to U.S. News & World Report.

But don't get too excited -- at the same time that schools are working harder to offer healthier options, the economy is making it more difficult than ever to meet those goals. More than 77 percent of the 1,200 food-service directors surveyed said that the cost of food and the overall economy are the most pressing issues they face. When the economy is bad, more students meet the standard for subsidized meals, placing a heavy financial burden on schools with a high poverty rate.

Nearly 60 percent of districts surveyed have raised their school-lunch prices this year to keep up with the cost of preparation, and some experts say that the federal subsidy would need to increase to as much as $4 or $5 per lunch to really allow school cafeterias to go healthy.

In fact, the government's School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study found that 80 percent of schools don't even comply with the federal guidelines for school lunches, and kids are still consuming a lot of high-fat food at school, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial by dietitian Kathryn Strong.

Good-faith efforts like those made by the Rockdale County Public Schools should be lauded, but there's a long way to go before anyone can declare a health-food revolution in school cafeterias -- especially considering that 16 percent of children between the ages 6 to 19 are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Does your child's school offer healthy choice? Should the government give more funding to help make school lunches more nutritious?

Source

http://www.parentdish.com/2009/08/26/more-school-lunches-going-vegetarian/

[jandar]

This is biased against non-veggie eaters!

[DavidWilliams]

Wow...as if you can't have a healthy diet that includes meat. Oh the agendas.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

If 80% of schools aren't even meeting guidelines serving anything at all, then it can't simply be an agenda to eliminate meat altogether. It said OPTIONS, not the entire menu. They're not going to get rid of the pizzas and burgers for quite some time. What was a vegetarian kid going to eat - a side salad and french fries?

I gotta give credit to the parents who likely fought to get this done. They seem to know what their kids should eat instead of chicken nuggets every day. I'm really glad to see this step being taken.

[FayeforCure]

If 80% of schools aren't even meeting guidelines serving anything at all, then it can't simply be an agenda to eliminate meat altogether. It said OPTIONS, not the entire menu. They're not going to get rid of the pizzas and burgers for quite some time. What was a vegetarian kid going to eat - a side salad and french fries?

I gotta give credit to the parents who likely fought to get this done. They seem to know what their kids should eat instead of chicken nuggets every day. I'm really glad to see this step being taken.

Thank you Cliffs_Daughter. When I found out my kids, most of whom still are vegetarians, only had the protein option of eating a Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich in the GA county where we lived, I talked to the cafeteria people and they gladly provided more CHOICE for vegetarians.

A simple addition to the side salad and fries is the veggie burger.

[Cliffs_Daughter]

I'll be honest, the thread title can be a little misleading. Someone could read/maybe DID read it to mean the school lunch as an entity or program itself, not the lunch choices.
But I'm on your side - I am slowly becoming a vegetarian myself. 

[Sportmotor]

*channles the right winged bible nut jobs for a moment* If fish and bird was good enough for Jesus it is good enough for me!!



No but really I like meat. I dont think a option would be bad, if you didnt want to eat meat. If they go strickly to it I would have a major problem with it.

Its not the meat that is causing kids to get fat, its the butterfingers, chips, cokes, other sugery snacks and LACK OF EXERCISE.
oh AND the lack of dodgeball in school now.

Not Meat.

[DavidWilliams]

and...there is ALWAYS the option...to pack a lunch as you see fit for your child(ren). That is what we do. It is impossible from a cost standpoint for the institution to cater to specific dietary needs, beliefs etc. (and would you really want them to?)

[DavidWilliams]

*channles the right winged bible nut jobs for a moment* If fish and bird was good enough for Jesus it is good enough for me!!



No but really I like meat. I dont think a option would be bad, if you didnt want to eat meat. If they go strickly to it I would have a major problem with it.

Its not the meat that is causing kids to get fat, its the butterfingers, chips, cokes, other sugery snacks and LACK OF EXERCISE.
oh AND the lack of dodgeball in school now.

Not Meat.



Dang, I am now inspired to heat up my grill...I have fish and bird in the freezer. I will have to run up to the C store to get butterfingers, chips, cokes and a dodgeball. Afterall, it is football season again. A time to celebrate 

[Sportmotor]

Dang, I am now inspired to heat up my grill...I have fish and bird in the freezer. I will have to run up to the C store to get butterfingers, chips, cokes and a dodgeball. Afterall, it is football season again. A time to celebrate 

Dude I'll bring a couple steaks and the beer!

[sheclown]

When I was a teacher, my students' favorite lunch was "porkette with gravy".  I can't even begin to guess what was in that gravy soaked pale piece of fried stuff.

Kids loved it though.  

School lunches need to be examined, re-evaluated.  Too many calories for one thing.  

[DavidWilliams]

I remember those weird "hamburger" patties (I think they were soy) when I was a kid in school (late 70's-early 80's). Not good but we ate them and lived to tell about it.

[GreenInstall]

I agree with Jandar on the meat issue.

That is until I remember what cafeteria food was actually like once there werent any product demos or cameras.  It usually discriminates against everyone who usually eats edible food.

Ha!  Kids today have it too easy.  Just for a little sport we should just serve them little sawdusty tasting cubes of bean protein with a side helping of horrible and a glass of castor oil.

See how that turns out!

Maybe it will be ok though, it will provide actual vegetation in between inhaling stuff from the dollar menus.

The pictures look like a child's treasury of punishment options though.

I agree, I believe that Non Meat options have to be better for my child than the mystery meat of old. 
Re: Castor Oil, you're preaching to the choir, I had to have a dose every week growing up...what doesn't kill you does make you stronger.

[Springfielder]

The school lunches are by calorie, which is why some entries are much smaller portions. There's usually always the choice of entries or salads. The company that now has the contract for dcps has made some improvement in choices, but the meat is still what I consider fake or really low grade. I disagree that the entire menu should be vegetarian.