Remember when ketchup was declared a vegetable in order to provide flexibility and cost effectiveness in school lunch programs? 1981.
The public charter Village School in Eugene, Ore., is doing its best to make sure students have nutrition and health benefits derived from real food. 2016.
Yes! Magazine reports that the USDA, which oversees the national school lunch program, is responsible for standards of what 32 million students who get school lunches eat every day. But parents in Eugene stepped in and insisted on more fruits, vegetables and whole grains to give kids nourishment they were deprived of due to food industry contracts.
Now students might get brown rice with tamari-marinated tofu, roasted seaweed and salad – a hot lunch with plenty of protein and low carbs that’s filling. Seventy percent of the students and staff prefer the new menu.
The USDA pays for 45 percent of it, and local organic farmers donate much of the rest.
Photo from The Village School