L.A. Unified Wasting More Taxpayer Dollars on Sushi Rolls for Students

Posted on June 16, 2011 by elizabeth

Had a fun segment on Fox&Friends this morning. We discussed the upcoming changes to cafeteria menus at L.A. schools. I’m definitely PRO healthy eating–we pack healthy lunches almost every day. But some of these new food items are a bit extreme: spinach tortellini dipped in butternut squash sauce? Sushi rolls? I just don’t think kids will eat it. They’ll throw it out. And dumped food is yet another wasted taxpayer dollar. Here I am weighing in on this topic with my big, ol’, happy gummy smile!

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  • Anna

    All of the menu items served at LAUSD are taste tested by about 35,000 students. For an item to make it onto the final menu it must be approved by at least 75% of those students.

    • http://www.elizabethesther.com elizabeth

      Well, for someone whose email address is “Youreacrazypants@looneybin.com” your insights are impressive! Thanks!

  • http://www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com Sarah Mae

    Your smile is beautiful…and you are so smart! Love your Fox videos!

  • Naomi’s mom

    He wants kids to try unfamiliar, new foods? What kid does that?

  • Valerie

    Is this due to Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution? LOVING that show! Meant to ask you about that, seeing as you live in the district! Just out of interest, my school was dubbed ‘healthiest canteen’ in our state, and serves sushi, brown bread only, vegetable soup, eggplant dishes…all sorts.. and we loved it, and the current kids love it.

    They don’t serve anything with sugar etc, except a few ice creams in summer, and the food sells well and is not wasted. :)

    • http://www.elizabethesther.com elizabeth

      That’s fantastic. It would be great if that could happen here, I just don’t know if it’s practical or HOW it would happen.

      • Valerie

        Instituting change is always tricky…I guess we came into that and didn’t know any different. I think if they substitute one thing at a time it may work, maybe with the younger kids?

        I reckon the pasta dish sounds delish! The kids may suprise you..

        :)

  • http://faithandfood.morizot.net/ Scott Morizot

    Hmmm. With celiac disease and with two kids with celiac disease, I’m perhaps more aware of the problems with the US food industry than many. I’m all in favor of Jamie’s food revolution. Watch Food, Inc. Read “In Defense of Food” and “The End of Overeating”.

    Check out unhealthytruth:

    http://twitter.com/#!/unhealthytruth/

    http://www.allergykidsfoundation.org/

    Then talk about the “food” we offer kids in school cafeterias.

  • Valerie

    I’m going to add something else as well. :) I’ve been to France a few times, and you should see what the kids eat for lunch at school there! Three course meals…with things like artichokes, sauted leeks, different tyoes of meat, a cheese course at the end, and a wide variety of interesting vegetables. It is just what they do. You see little kids dipping artichokes into melted butter in restaurants and eating with such relish. They can name the most amazing array of vegetables.

    I don’t know. I think we need to respect these kids and honour them by giving them the best for their little bodies. I think we need to give them every opportunity to develop a taste for good and nourishing food. I think we owe it to them.

    I really hope that the changes are positive, that their little tastebuds get re-trained. It is really hard to convince kids to try new things when they are used to eating more junky food.

  • Heather in KY

    Elizabeth – you ROCK!! And, as a mom of 5, I am right there with you. My kids would not come near that food. We have to be both responsible and practical with nutrition and our kids. In a perfect world, LA’s plan sounds great, but I agree totally with the fact that trash cans would be inundated with healthy but strange foods. Just my 2 cents. Oh, and BTW, I love your big smile – I think it’s gorgeous!!

  • KatR

    But I thought all California kids ate sushi and drank Evian???? :) Seriously though, having also watched Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” I’m all in favor of schools trying to widen kids’ palates with healthy food choices. Maybe with some kids (SOME) the newness of it will get them to give it a shot.

  • http://www.americannaussie.katyannewilson.com Katy-Anne

    The kids need healthy food. If the kids get hungry, and all they have is healthy food, they’ll eat it. Maybe the overindulged won’t, but the ones that are genuinely hungry will be grateful for the food and eat.

  • Rocky Lore

    I wonder how much this will cost the schools and I thought they had no money.

    • http://www.americannaussie.katyannewilson.com Katy-Anne

      Probably less than the junk food is costing them.

  • http://www.seekingfaithfulnessblog.blogspot.com Holly

    You’re seriously too cute. I loved this segment. You’re really just a natural on television. I….could not do that. I would stutter and stammer and lose my train of thought. :) Good job!

  • http://recoveringpessimist.blogspot.com Jennifer

    A school district in Northern California (and I’m not gonna say which cuz it might just come with a bias, lol) . has a FANTASTIC plan for school lunches. Every single school has a salad bar. There is no flavored milk and the milk they provide has no hormones or RBST. All the ingredients in their foods are sourced locally and they make almost everything from scratch. What’s on the menu? A lot of the same items that many schools have: chicken, spaghetti, pizza, nachos- but much healthier versions made with real ingredients. If kids didn’t eat that food, the district couldn’t justify the expense. I think there’s a TED talk out there by the head lunch lady in this district… I’m gonna dig it up for my own listening pleasure :-)

    If wanting kids to eat real food and expecting school districts to provide real food for children who relay on schools for breakfast and lunch makes me a part of the food police, then I’m a happy HAPPY member. I wouldn’t feed my dog what passes for school lunches in America these days. Spinach tortellini may not be the answer, but they are moving in the right direction. And thank GOD they banned flavored milk. There’s as much sugar in a flavored milk as there is in the same amount of Coke.

    You were great on TV by the way. You’re a natural! And I, for one, love your gummy smile and you’d better never change it or no free Greek coffee for you at the Festival next weekend!

  • Gina

    This reminds me of the “Gilmore Girls” episode where Sookie catered a kids’ party and, knowing nothing about kids, tried to serve them macaroni and cheese in a jalapeno-chipotle cream sauce. :-)

    Also, as someone at another site said, *raw fish* at school? Doesn’t that pose something of a health risk?