The Schoolyard Foodie: Why our kids are fighting over fruit

The Schoolyard Foodie: Why our kids are fighting over fruit


By GEHRY OATEY

Each day I walk into the school cafeteria to check in with my students on their own turf. There is one scene that repeats itself without fail each lunch—fried beef on a stick is served (or some such artificially preserved nastiness), the kids turn up their noses, and fights ensue over the good fruit and string cheese.
Mmm. Grilled cheese in a bag.

Mmm. Grilled cheese in a bag.

100% of our students are eligible for the free lunch that arrives with the SYSCO trucks each morning. 100% are also required by law to stand in line and receive the daily offering—at least one of each item. No shocker here to anyone who works in a school, but half of this goes directly to the garbage. Some of it is discarded after a couple of bites, but many students don’t even take that risk—they take the required food item and instantly throw it away.

For a more comprehensive look at my school’s cafeteria food, visit my class’s blog: http://510eatswell.blogspot.com/

Tellingly, I rarely see any teachers eating the school lunch. Seems strange that this needs to be said, but if it’s not good enough for us, why do we give it to our students? This isn’t just about a stale peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it’s about social justice. Check Article 25 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food…”

It’s also about learning. Every afternoon, I have a handful of students who complain of a stomach ache or a headache. My first question to them is “Did you eat today?” and the reply, nine times out of ten, is something to the effect of “I had juice but I didn’t want to eat the food ‘cause it was nasty.” My response is always to politely agree with them because, yeah, that food is nasty.

For the next ninety minutes, it’s my job to convince this malnourished kid (who, by the way, has orange fingers from a bag of Cheetos being passed around surreptitiously) to sit still and be an active participant for an afternoon of middle school prison training. The message is transparent for them—a prepackaged Styrofoam diet, uniforms, security guards walking the hallways, and surveillance cameras at all corners of the school—where else can you go to find these elements? Well, maybe at McDonalds.

So this is the current situation. But before you throw your hands up in despair, there are solutions. In my next post, I will break down some ways that I think schools can free themselves of their systemic addiction to processed industrial food. And for those students in my afternoon class today: You better hope those Cheetos hold you over until dinner.