The Waste Of School Food

Back in the day, when school cooks actually cooked the food, they would have some decent meals, even though people made fun of them. Fried chicken, Salisbury steak, meat loaf, hot dogs, hamburgers, fish sticks etc were common, and there was a variety of meals- so much so, it was rare to have the same meal in a month.
Now, the food police have taken over and started giving the kids some "healthy" but cheap food. Salads, pizza, hamburgers, tacos salad, burritos and the kids don't like it. As a teacher who spends time int he cafeteria, the most common food items thrown away are fresh fruit, milk, juice and salad.
And it's not only at our school. From the LVRJ: As part of a campaign against obesity, the Los Angeles Unified School District banned sodas from campuses in 2004. It then moved on to nix the sale of junk food during the school day. But this fall, officials took their biggest step to date: feeding their captive charges what authorities consider a healthier menu.
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that one day's lunch menu included black bean burgers, tostada salad and fresh pears. But instead of sampling the fare, two juniors pulled three bags of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and soda from their backpacks.
" 'This is our daily lunch,' Iraides Renteria said. 'We're eating more junk food now than last year.' "
What? More unintended consequences of coercion?
"For many students, L.A. Unified's trailblazing introduction of healthful school lunches has been a flop. ... Many of the meals are being rejected en masse," the Times reports.
Participation in the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students. Principals report massive waste, with uneaten entrees being tossed.
Acknowledging the complaints, L.A. Unified's food services director, Dennis Barrett, announced this month that the menu would be revised. Hamburgers will be brought back, and some of the more exotic dishes are out, including the beef jambalaya, vegetable curry, and lentil and brown rice cutlets. The district is even bringing back pizza -- albeit it with a whole wheat crust, and low-fat cheese. http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/a-failed-experiment-with-healthy-school-meals-136179408.html
The bottom line from the editorial: Precisely. Should kids be taught about health and nutrition? Sure. Should they be given healthier alternatives to corn dogs, doughnuts and nachos? Sure. But "alternatives" imply choice.
It just goes to show: If you want to run a successful Nanny State, you've got to eliminate this "competition" business, this idea of "choice." In the end, they're going to end up needing a lot more guards and some barbed wire.
Each day throughout the CCSD schools, hundreds of cartons of milk are thrown away along with juice, not to mention hundreds of pieces of fresh fruit like apples and pears. It would be nice that if the kids do throw away the food and before it gets to the garbage can, is to save it and give it to the poor and homeless, otherwise, it is just food literally down the drain or to the dumpster.