Mom Congress Interview: 5 Questions for The Renegade Lunch Lady

Mom Congress interviews Chef Ann Cooper about how to improve the food our kids get at school.

By No Source

For the last 10 years, Chef Ann Cooper has been leading the charge to reform public school cafeterias. She's written several books, including Lunch Lessons, and last month she launched TheLunchBox.org, a site dedicated giving schools the info they need to feed their students better (a lot better). After spending the last four years with the Berkeley public schools, Cooper is now director of nutrition services for the Boulder public school system.

How would you characterize the food that most schools serve?
When I got to both Berkeley and Boulder, the food was spectacularly bad. The majority of school lunches are basically unhealthy. They're highly processed, everything comes in frozen packages, and it's full of high- fructose corn syrup.

What role does the government play?
First, the National School Lunch Program guidelines need to be revised. Right now, chicken nuggets, tater tots, canned fruit cocktail, chocolate milk, and corndogs are all allowed. It's not really food. We're feeding children chemicals and sugar and fat in a really high proportion. Second, we need to spend more money. The program costs about 8.5 billion a year for 5.4 billion lunches. That works out to $2.70 per meal -- but less than a dollar of that is for the food. That's clearly not enough. We need an extra dollar at minimum to put toward fresh fruits and veggies and whole grains that are regionally produced.

Tell us about the changes you've implemented so far in Boulder.
Today is only the second day of school, but we already have salad bars, organic regional milk, fresh fruits and vegetables, no trans fats, and no high fructose corn syrup. We have nutritious and delicious food in the cafeteria and a hands-on curriculum in the classroom on growing and handling food.

Reforming the way thousands of kids eat can't be easy. What are the biggest challenges facing schools?
There are five big obstacles: food, facility finance, human resources and marketing: Where's the food going to come from? Where will it be prepared? Some schools don't even have kitchens. Who's going to pay for it? Who's going prepare it? And how are we going to get the kids to like it? These issues all need to be tackled at once -- and there's a lot to do. But this is where Lunchbox can come in. Schools need help to change -- they don't have the menus and recipes or the systems and plans to do what needs to be done. The site will hopefully be used to give schools these tools. And, it can be used by parents and advocates.

So what can moms do to make a difference in their school cafeterias?
All school districts must have a wellness policy that addresses nutrition and physical activity. First find out what the policy is (it's public information and should be on file at the school), and go eat lunch at the cafeteria. Then look at the policy and look at the food you were served. Next, get a lot of likeminded parents and go before the school board to demand better. At the individual school level, parents can also help by starting a garden or even offering a cooking class.

Want to support The Lunchbox? Join the Whole Foods Market School Lunch Revolution, which is working to raise funds for the project. Donate at stores or online.