Consume Product

Since the HHS is going to be taking over the school lunch program, here's my thoughts on what can be changed to make it fulfill its purpose.

States and schools and school districts can figure out on their own how to share resources. Note that building a professional kitchen at each school may simply be too much overhead. It might make sense to have a central kitchen that serves several schools in an area.

The food should be sourced, as much as possible, from local farmers, of course. And not just one or two farming corporations -- but a large number of local farmers, especially the ones with smaller operations. We should be using regenerative techniques to ensure the food has the highest nutrient density we know how to make. Regenerative agriculture is much more cost-effective than current practices, so food prices should decrease, slightly. At the very least, it will encourage farmers to give regenerative techniques a try on some of their fields and pastures.

Processed foods should be all but forbidden. No buying food by the can, opening cans, heating it and serving it. Instead, get the raw ingredients fresh from the farms, prepare it and serve it.

Each kitchen should have trained staff that knows how to create real meals from scratch. They should also employ lots of other people who want to learn those techniques. It shouldn't be a career, but a temporary job, 1-2 years max. Restaurants and food companies can use the school lunch program to train and recruit. Heck, we should be employing young mothers there so they can learn how to create healthy meals for their own kids.

In fact, why can't we have high school kids who are learning culinary arts spend a period in the school kitchen preparing food?

Most importantly, have the state or city inspect the school kitchen regularly, give a report on conditions there and what improvements could be made, and publish it directly to the parents. Don't even give the schools a chance to look at the report first.

A good school kitchen could be a focal point for farmers and cooks and everyone else in between to come together to create healthy food for the kids. Serve the kids delicious, healthy food locally sourced, and they may just learn to like it enough to eat the same kind of food outside of school. Most importantly, pay attention to the nutrient content of the food.