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| School cafeteria pizza? Some things don't change! |
One
line was for students interested in purchasing a full meal (for about $1, if my
memory is correct – it has been 30 years), which tried to make some concept of
a balanced meal with side dishes.
THE
OTHER LINE was an a la carte line
meant to serve individual items.
As
I recall, that line was usually the more popular. I even recall some people who
would mock anyone who thought to get into the line seeking a full meal. As
though the idea of nutrition was something bad.
Because
I remember the types of items that were the most popular purchases – slices of
pizza, French fries and some sort of fruit juice (although no soda pop).
The
very thought of it makes me want to wretch, particularly since we’re not
talking about any kind of edible quality to the food. It was the equivalent of
the cheaper items one finds in the frozen foods aisle of the supermarket.
BUT
I’M SURE it provided the kinds of starches and sugars that made us feel filled
(bloated might be more accurate) as we worked our way through the second half
of a school day.
What
makes me recall this experience from the era back when we called Ronald Reagan
president? Oddly enough, it was a Chicago Tribune story previewing first lady
Michelle Obama’s visit to Chicago.
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| OBAMA: 'Mom' telling us to eat vegetables? |
She
has tried to take childhood obesity on as her pet issue, and she brought
various people with her to make herself look like a success.
Yet
Tribune reporter-type people worked their way into the schools in Chicago to
find that many efforts to put healthier items on the school lunch menus are not
working.
MAKE
HEALTHIER FOODS available to the student body, and they may wind up pitching
them straight into the trash.
One
student told the Tribune, “We just like chips with our food.” While another
wouldn’t eat the broccoli being served because, “Ain’t no cheese on it.”
This
was at an inner-city school of the 21st Century.
Yet
it sounds so much like what my counterparts would have spewed forth all those
decades ago – had anyone tried to put healthy foods before them on a regular
basis.
NOW
I KNOW the conservative ideologues of our society like to claim this is some
sort of issue involving personal freedom. Michelle Obama trying to push
nutrition is somehow an issue of her being a meddling witch (they use much
harsher terms) to butt into a person’s right to eat whatever they want.
Which
just strikes me as a stupid way to view this issue. It sounds more like they’re
not concerned about the health and welfare of those individuals in our society
who aren’t exactly like themselves.
Perhaps
they think the “different” people will eat enough junk, die off and leave the
planet for themselves! That’s a bit harsh. But then again, so are many of the “critics”
of nutrition.
It
amused me to learn from the Tribune that some teachers working in the
cafeterias on “lunch” duty now wear plastic gloves so they can help younger
students handle their food – particularly when it comes to peeling fresh fruit and
other items that aren’t in their regular menus at home.
BUT
MY REAL point in bringing this up is to acknowledge how much of a struggle it
will be to persuade certain individuals to behave in ways that are to their
benefit – particularly if there are elements in their life that are in
opposition.
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| COLEMAN: A premature crusade? |
It
actually reminds me of an old episode of that ‘80’s era sit-come “Diff’rent
Strokes” – the one in which actor Gary Coleman’s “Arnold” character winds up
provoking a change in the vending machines at his school.
Instead
of serving sugary donuts and candy, they now will be refrigerated and will
offer fresh fruit. The students’ reaction?
They
pelted Arnold with trash! A childish reaction, to be sure. But to listen to the
ideologues, we ought to give in to our child mode, rather than act like adults –
who are supposed to be the ones who set the example for how our children are
supposed to behave.
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