WHERE IT'S WORKING

Our ideas aren't radical. In fact, they're incredibly simple and come down to this: Serve kids real food. Below is a collection of articles and websites that show it's not an insurmountable goal.

U.S. schools add fresh food without busting budgets
RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - Thousands of U.S. public school districts are teaming up with local farmers to put more fresh fruits and vegetables on lunchroom menus, without breaking budgets or getting any help from celebrity chefs. (click here to read more)

Tops in school nutrition
... Dixon's determination to bring fresh, healthy and locally grown food to Mitchell School students will now lead her to Dallas, Texas, in July, where she will compete against, at most, seven other regional winners. Recognized for several projects initiated throughout the school year, Dixon's idea was simply to teach students to lead healthy lifestyles by exposing them to a variety of fresh and local foods. (click here to read more)

No more nuggets: Berkeley schools serve Epic Chicken
... The Tyson nuggets are really extrusions and amalgamations of all sorts of chicken scraps, seasoned with a dose of salt and chemical additives. Factory machines shape the mix into kid-size mouthfuls that are breaded and baked assembly-line style, then frozen and shipped hundreds of miles to school kitchens. Low-skilled workers pour the frozen nuggets out of plastic bags onto sheet pans and quickly reheat them. A few minutes in a 350-degree oven is all it takes before the factory nuggets are ready to be displayed on the food service line where hungry kids scoop them up.

The chicken in Berkeley schools also arrives frozen, in big bricks of chicken parts known as "eight-cut" chicken, meaning the chicken carcass has been cut in half, then into breasts, legs, thighs and wings -- eight pieces per bird. No further processing has been done. The skin is still on the meat; the meat still on the bone. It looks very much like the chicken you would find in the meat aisle of the grocery store if you were looking for an economical cut of poultry for dinner. (click here to read more)

Douglas County School District 
Helping your child eat healthy is a religion for us.  We believe that a healthy diet will help your child grow and learn, as well as avoid obesity and other weight-related diseases like diabetes.  We work hard to ensure that all our foods meet (and exceed!) stringent nutrition standards, and that we educate students in the lunchroom and in the classroom about how to make healthy food choices. (click here to read more)

Renegade Lunch Lady Ann Cooper




Big Ideas for a Small Planet - Edibles 
Netflix users can watch instantly to see a small company that transformed school lunches in California. It's the third segment and starts at minute 17:50.


Check back; we'll be adding more soon.